Doki Doki Literature Club A Phantom Threat
by Number15tails
Summary: After Monika's failed attempt at being together with the Player she ends up returning to her world with her memories, breaking the game's boundaries. This causes issues with other programs in his computer, specifically Sonic Mania, bringing both the Phantom Ruby and Classic Sonic into the world of Doki Doki Literature Club. This causes many to realize the truth of their reality.
1. A change in one's heart!

**Here's some important information over this chapter, the MC's name is Shay, and this takes place right after finishing Doki Doki Literature club, and taking all Natsuki possible routes.**

Monika floated endlessly in her prison, hearing the continuous screams of agony that pulled her away from her thoughts, but she no longer cared.

"What's the point?" she said, as she clutched her chest.

She had successfully pulled her plan off, she made Sayori hang herself, caused Yuri to kill herself, and Natsuki had been removed from the game. It was all perfect just her and Shay, she finally had her moment in the sunshine, what she wanted was there… then why did she feel so hurt.

The player removed her from the game, though that was only part of the reason she felt hurt. Truth be told it was her club members. She felt horrible for what she did, which is why she resisted the urge from deleting them completely.

"I really deserve this don't I Shay… that's why it has to be this way…" she tried to hold back her tears, which didn't last long. "I'm so sorry… everyone." She began weeping silently waiting for her moment to be erased.

She then saw a strong white light distinguishing the darkness and drowning out the shouting and screams that bothered her for so long. "This must be it then." She said as she felt the light spread ever so closer to her. She prepared herself to feel the sharpest of pain, just like when the player had removed her… but she felt nothing. The light felt warm and was pulling her in.

"Wh-What?" Monika stammered quietly, "is this how it feels to be erased?"

The white light engulfed her completely. She covered her eyes as it got too bright, she felt herself no longer floating but instead lying down. "Where? am…" she stopped herself short as she opened her eyes and saw that she was in her room. "Huh?! Was I dreaming, did any of that even happen?" she began questioning herself as she heard her alarm go off.

It was time to go to school, but she had no idea if she should go. "Didn't Shay delete me? Why am I still here? There's no way none of that could've been a dream it all felt to real." She looked outside her window and was confronted with her usual home street, "I really am back," she said softly.

 **Players Point of View:**

"Hey, it worked the game didn't crash this time." After a long time of tampering with the game files, the player was finally able to get the game to reload, (What those changes where will remain a secret for now).

 _Time Skip._

 **Back to Monika:**

Monika had arrived at her school but began walking slowly and awkwardly as she made her way in. 'I should've stayed home' she thought, 'What if people don't even know me? After all I did leave the game intact, I just removed myself from it, because that's what Shay wanted right?' as she thought this she bit her lip out of stress.

"Maybe I should go to the club room" Monika told herself, trying to calm herself down.

Upon Arriving she saw Natsuki carrying a tray of cupcakes and glaring at the door with an annoyed expression. "Dumb door… I can't just put these cupcakes down." Natsuki said not realizing that Monika was next to her.

Monika was frozen in place, she had no idea what to do. It honestly felt like she was watching a ghost of her friend, a friend whose life she made a living hell. She remembered how she raised Natsuki's father's aggressiveness, and how she passed out when hanging out with Shay. She didn't know whether to approach Natsuki, 'Does she even know who I am?' Monika thought.

Natsuki then took notice of the pondering Monika, and said "Oh Monika hey, do you mind opening the door to the club for me," Monika was snapped out of her thoughts, but stayed silence and didn't move to which Natsuki then said, "I mean it's not like I need your help or anything, I just really would've appreciated the jester." She said as she turned her head in a tsundere like fashion. "O-Oh I'm sorry, I just got lost in my own thoughts." She put out a genuine smile as she opened the door for the pink haired girl. "There you go," Monika said. "Thank you" replied Natsuki as she went in and plopped the tray down in a desk.

"Hey Natsuki, what are the cupcakes for?" Monika asked curiously. "What you don't remember, today is the day Sayori is bringing her friend Shay into the club." Natsuki said from the backroom, making place for the cupcakes. "Sheesh you're our president, how do you not know this, Sayori even asked for your permission," snarked Natsuki in a playful way. "Oh, I'm sorry, I've just been so busy that I forgot," Monika said as she let out one of her usual laughs. "By the way…" Monika said as she looked out the hallway to make sure no one was around, "Was your dad okay with you baking these?"

Monika was the only one in the club that knew about Natsuki and how her father treated her. The two where good friends, so Monika would always bring little snack's that were appropriate towards the school rules to give to Natsuki. "Yeah, he wasn't home all day yesterday, so he wasn't much of a bother, in fact," Natsuki began "this helped me prepare one of my best cupcakes yet." She made a pose, acting as if she just won some sort of competition. "I can't wait to show you and Sayori, I just know you two are going to like it, I had so much fun making them…" she went silent, "I wish I could always feel this happy you know…" Natsuki looked down at the ground, "I'm lucky I even had ingredients to make these sweets." She said silently, "Monika thank you for being there for me, you, Sayori, and Yuri, you all mean a lot to me, even if I don't show it I really appreciate everyone, you're like family to me… the family I always dreamed of having." Right then and there Monika felt extremely guilty, but she swallowed and said, "It's okay Natsuki," as she embraced her and said, "I will always be there for you." The two continued on until it was time to get to class, "Well see you later Monika." Natsuki said with a smile while cleaning her tears off, she happily made her way to her class.

Monika's smiled disappeared as she made her way to her room, 'Natsuki I'm so sorry for what I did to you… to all of you, I won't ever do it again I promise... I'll try to be good this time, I won't let myself get swayed by Shay. I promise to stay neutral.' She told herself this as she stopped by her classroom to put on a smile before going in.

 **Okay I think I'll stop right about here. Anyway, I'm planning to finish this story hopefully in this month. So yeah, I will be working on chapter 2 as soon as this is uploaded. Now I won't be rushing this or anything, I just kind of thought already how I want this story to play out, hope you guys stick around for the ride.**


	2. Monika Looses Her Powers!

**Hope you guys don't mind, but I'm planning of skipping most of the stuff that goes on during the game, because I know that most of you don't want a repeat of the game. Also, I forgot to mention this, but the MC and the User/Player are two different people, like the MC still exists in the game/world whether the User is playing or not. Also, whenever I switch to the Player's point of view It will be in 1** **st** **person.**

The day went as per usual and Monika hardly paid any attention in class, after all this is the third time she's sat down for the same lecture, she was lost in thought with many problems, like if she should come clean to her friends and tell them everything she knew, and what she would do with Shay, who Natsuki claimed was still going to show up.

She decided that it would be best if she stayed to her original script, the one the game had her do, but instead not tamper with her friends, she wasn't sure how this could play out, but she hoped that it could end with some sort of happy ending.

 **Player's Point of View:**

After making a new save file, I went through the dialogue as per usual and made it to the part where Sayori takes us to the club everything plays out normally as I'm being introduced to all the club members, Monika seems to be acting normal and says her usual in game dialogue. 'I wonder if Monika remembers everything from our last play time,' I continue playing and reach the poem writing section. I decide to go and choose the options for Natsuki's route, her being my favorite and all. "If she does remember the events from the last save, I wonder what she plans to do now," I tell myself in wonder.

 **Monika's Point of View:**

Monika made it back home, worked on her assignments, her poem and took a shower. She got into her pajamas, and lazily lied on her couch turning on the TV. At this time, she would normally go through the game files and tamper with Sayori's depression, but she swore to herself to turn over a new leaf. She let out a loud sigh as she stretched her arms out. "I wonder if their character files are also untampered with." She began wondering, "if my file stayed the way it was, who's to say that they also stayed the same." This thought began running through her mind, and made it her current top priority. She closed her eyes and stopped moving, the room went silent with only the sound of the TV still playing, the sound eventually drowned out and everything went silent. Monika then opened her eyes and saw herself in an empty grid like area, she extended her arm and said, "Retrieve Character files." A window then appeared displaying the prompted files to Monika. She went ahead and started analyzing Sayori and Yuri's file to which both came out as neutral. Both were free of any tampering, she then opened Natsuki's file and paused.

"Natsuki… she was the one Shay wrote his poem's out to last time… I wonder if he'll do the same again." She then went through Natsuki's file, while doing so all she could remember was their conversation from this morning.

When Monika first discovered her ability to edit people's files, she made it her first mission to dispose of Natsuki's father's aggressiveness, but she failed to do so at the time. She couldn't lower the value at all, and was only allowed to increase it. When she finished analyzing Natsuki's file she saw that it was also free from any kind of tampering. Monika sighed in relief and was ready to leave, but she stopped. She paused for a while and pondered something to herself. She took a deep breath and reopened Natsuki's file, "I'm sure with everything I've learned I can at least find a way to remove his aggressiveness." Monika wasn't sure why, but the values that controlled Natsuki's dad was under Natsuki's character file, she stopped at the part she wanted to analyze, and began checking for any possible changes she could do to it before tampering with it. After 20 minutes of reading, and rereading the code she let out a loud groan, "AHHHH, I just don't get it I'm sure there has to be a way to help my friend" Monika shouted. She then heard something, it was a low buzzing sound, it didn't sound like it was coming from any direction specifically but instead from everywhere.

Monika started walking away from the window she was reading, and realized something was up with the small closed area she was in, there was a small crack at the far edge. "This wasn't here before," she told herself as she inspected the crack, she could hear that the buzzing sound was coming from that crack. As she peered closer she saw a low purple colored light, it was giving her a hypnotic feeling as she continued to stare into it, for a second Monika almost felt like she was being pulled into it. She then snapped back and stepped away from the crack. The buzzing began getting louder, almost as if it were getting angry from Monika stepping away from it. The window she had open then closed, and the crack began spreading throughout the entire grid room. All the while the buzzing began getting louder, and louder, she ran to the opposite edge of the room as the crack was spreading ever so slowly. A new kind of window opened in front of her, it was exactly like the one that showed up when Monika was deleting one of her classmates from the game. "What?! No go away!" Monika screamed, she didn't want to erase anyone, but the window began typing on its own.

 **os,add item/phantom,chr**

…

 **Phantom,chr added successfully.**

The buzzing then went low, but it was still heard by Monika, and the crack stopped. Monika had no idea what happened, but she was sure that this wasn't the player's doing, they were currently writing out the poem for the next day. "Retrieve Phantom File," Monika said, but nothing happened. The box then started displaying three dots, disappearing back and fort as if it was loading up her command, they then disappeared and showed.

 **Access from Characters/Monika,chr has been denied.**

 **The user no longer has file editing rights.**

The black box closed.

"What? What's going on… who's doing thi-" she was drowned out as the buzzing sound became unbearably loud, to which she clutched her ears and was forced to sit on the ground putting her face against her knees as she felt the buzzing and light get stronger and stronger. She began sobbing and yelling "I ONLY WANTED TO HELP!" she then saw the black box open once more, but she was pulled away from the now purple screeching room, and back into her house before seeing what was written in it.

Everything was quiet again, and Monika laid there, letting her tears collect, "I didn't do anything…"

 **Player's point of view**

When I finished choosing the words for the poem to take the Natsuki route the transition to the next day took a long time, I was staring at a black screen for quite a while "Is this Monika's doing?" I thought to myself. When suddenly the same black box that Monika used to delete the characters during the last game showed up.

 **os,add item/phantom,chr**

…

 **Phantom,chr added successfully.**

I saw the prompt and was a little freaked out. "I've never seen anybody get a prompt like that before." I quickly put the game on hold and made my way to the files. "Let's see Phantom, Phantom… ah here it is." I find the file, and try to open it, but to no avail, the file doesn't do anything. I turn back to the game and wonder what it could mean, when the box begins to type something else.

 **os,add(character/-**

The box gets interrupted by my computer as the game screen goes to a soft layer of white, reading 'program not responding.' I allow it to play out for a while until the game eventually puts itself back together, and it immediately cuts to the next day, without finishing what the black box would display.

 **Well looks like Monika no longer has the ability to tamper with any of the files, what could this possibly entail for the future of the literature club? And what was that other character that was being added to the game? Some of these questions might be answered next chapter.**


	3. Something is Wrong With Natsuki

**This is all picking up immediately from the last chapter. Also remember Shay (MC) and the player are two different people.**

 **Player's Point of View.**

After the game not responding screen disappeared, I immediately got kicked to the next day without being able to see what the black box had said. That's when I noticed something off, that being that my character, Shay, wasn't greeted by Monika as per usual. It also seems like Natsuki isn't present in the club either. "Did I unlock a new route?" I begin to wonder, "maybe changing the files really did do something."

 **Shay's Point of View.**

Shay made his way into the club and saw that only Yuri, who was reading her book, and Sayori, who was waiting around, were the only ones in the room. "Hey there Shay, I see you kept your promise and actually came back," said Sayori as he closed the door. "Hey Sayori," he glances around the room, Yuri gives out a shy wave, to which Shay replies, "Hey Yuri." He looks at Sayori and asks, "Where are the other's? Don't tell me I scared them off already." Shay replies with sarcasm. A small chuckle is heard from Yuri who is covering her face with her book. "Ah-… ah-… I'm S-S-Sorry I-I didn't mean to eavesdrop or anything. I was just um…" Shay tries to stop himself from chuckling and says, "Oh it's okay Yuri I was directing that to the two of you." To which Sayori says, "I'm not sure I saw Monika today, but she was really depressed when I was trying to talk to her, and I haven't seen Natsuki all day," Shay nods and turns to Yuri.

"Huh? Oh? Me? Uhm I haven't s-s-seen neither of them," she stammers quickly, "I'm so sorry." Shay shakes his head and says, "No its okay, I was just curious that's all," at that moment the club door opens.

"Oh, hey Natsuki," Sayori calls out with a wave. Natsuki turns to face Sayori and says, "hi," returning the wave, but clutches her arm midway. Sayori didn't seem to notice this, but both Shay and Yuri turn to each other as Natsuki made her way to her manga collection.

Shay mouths the words 'did you see that?' to which Yuri nods ever so slightly. Yuri turns to Natsuki and asks, "Hey um… Natsuki?" Yuri says shyly, "Yeah?" Natsuki responds stopping halfway to her manga collection. "Are you okay?" Yuri asks with a serious tone, "W-what do you mean?" Natsuki responds.

"We saw you clutch your arm just now," Shay added, "are you okay?" Natsuki panics and says, "n-n-no I'm fine, I just…" Natsuki begins to stammer quickly and says, "I hurt my arm during gym class today that's all," she begins nodding, "it's just sore that's all." Shay doesn't feel satisfied with this answer nor those Yuri, but as their about to ask Natsuki more questions the club door opens again, its Monika.

"Hey, everyone sorry I'm la-" Monika cuts herself as she sees everyone looking at Natsuki, "uhm… what's going on?" Natsuki is the first to answer, "nothing I was just going to read my ma- errh books." Natsuki says as she makes her way to the closet.

"Yeah me too, I was going to go read with her." Natsuki turns around to look at the one who said this, it was Shay. "huh? What are you-" She begins stammering, but Shay quickly interjects, "What? I thought we could read manga together, I mean if you're okay with it."

Monika smiled softly, 'I see you want to be with Natsuki again player' she giggled lightly. "That sounds like a great idea you and Shay should totally read together," Monika says. "What?! Why would I want to read with this gross kid," Natsuki blurts out.

Shay pouts at her statement while crossing his arms and turning away in a Natsuki like tsundere style "I'm not gross," Shay comments lowly. Monika, Yuri, and Sayori can't help but giggle at his act, all while Natsuki lets out a sigh. She looks at Shay and says, "fine but under one condition," she states as she goes into the closet. "Okay what?" Shay asks, Natsuki then shoves a book into his face, "You have to read this book with me." Shay looks at the cover, 'Parfait Girls… looks kind of moe,' Shay thought as he read the title out to which Natsuki snaps, "Hey if you're going to criticize it then you can do so from out there," she points at the door. "Hey, I'm not criticizing, I just didn't expect you to be into this kind of stuff."

Everyone settle's down as the two eventually sit down to read Natsuki's manga. After a while Shay had started enjoying the manga, but felt something lean against his shoulder, Natsuki had fallen on to his shoulder with her eyes closed, but something was off. Natsuki didn't show any signs of fatigue while reading, its almost like she just passed out.

"Hey, Natsuki wake up," Shay whispers as he shakes her gently, but no response. Monika takes notice and walks in their direction, "Hey Monika, Natsuki passed out," Shay said sounding a bit worried. "Oh, its nothing Shay she gets like this from time to time," she says as she reaches into her bag, "Hey Natsuki I got something for you," she says as she waves some sort of protein bar in front of Natsuki. She quickly snaps her eyes open, and tackles the bar, surprising Monika and begins ripping the wrapper in a ferocious manner.

Everyone in the club begins to stare at Natsuki, and when she regains her composure she notices everyone looking at her. Her face turns red, and she quickly exits the room leaving the door open. Everyone was in complete shock of what just happened, Monika being the most surprised.

"Uhmm… I'll go check on her, you guys stay here," Monika says quickly as she takes off after her. "What was that all about?" Shay asked completely freaked out. "I've never seen her like that," Sayori said. Yuri stood up and walked to the door and peered down the hallway in the direction the two girls went on, "Yuri?" Sayori asks, "Let's follow them…" Yuri looked at us, "I feel like they're both hiding something from us." Shay and Sayori looked at each other, and nodded in agreement. They stood up and made their way to the direction Monika went.

 **Just what happened to Natsuki in this time? What could be going through Monika's mind? And what is phantom? Idk you guys probably know that bia the description.**


	4. Secret Letters

**Alright so this chapter is much longer than expected, though it hasn't been much of a crossover without… well you know the other character showing up, but trust me that will all happen real soon.**

Monika had gone after Natsuki after her sudden outburst, and was deeply worried, "What happened to her, I'm pretty sure I didn't tamper with anything yesterday." The last time Monika had seen Natsuki act like this was when she had purposely made her dad more aggressive, she passed out similarly to this in front of Shay too. "Then why did she act this way if I didn't change anything?" Monika said worriedly, but the part that has Monika on edge, was that even when she tampered with Natsuki's file, it never gave such extreme results.

Her Thoughts were cut short as she accidentally walked past Natsuki. She had been hiding by the side of a vending machine sitting down with her knees against her head sobbing. Monika took a seat next to her silently, she didn't say a word, and instead sat there waiting for the sobbing to stop.

After a while the other club members caught up, but kept themselves hidden from the two by entering a nearby empty classroom, and eavesdropping on the two. "Are you sure following them was a good idea Yuri, this seems awfully personal." Sayori whispered from their hiding place. "Of course, she's our friend and I can't stand her seeing like this, but most importantly I want to see why she's like this." Shay nodded in agreement, to which Sayori responded, "I guess you're right, I too want to know what's wrong with Natsuki."

Natsuki had finally gone silent and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Are you okay?" Monika asked searching through her bag, Natsuki nodded quietly as she stared off into the wall. "Are… you comfortable telling me what happened?" Natsuki nodded quietly again. "Okay but before you do I need you to roll up your sleeves," Monika said as she pulled some cream out. Natsuki began stammering about to ask how Monika knew about her arm, but was cut off by Monika. "Sayori told me that you hurt your arm…"

"Must've told her while I was reading with her right?" Shay whispered, Sayori nodded while they continued to eavesdrop. "Natsuki… you didn't really hurt yourself in gym class, did you?" Natsuki simply complied and told Monika the truth, "No, it was my dad again… I just… I'm sorry for being a bother Monika." Monika stayed quiet, understanding the subject completely, she reminded Natsuki to roll up her sleeves, to which she did revealing many bruises on the child's arm.

The three spying club members gasped in unison upon seeing the wounds on their friend. "Natsuki…" was all Yuri could muster while forming a tight fist. Shay was completely taken aback as well, "Why would anyone do something like this?" he said clenching his teeth. "Poor Natsuki," was all Sayori could say while tearing up. The silence between the three spies broke as Yuri whispered, "C'mon we need to get back to the club?" walking back towards the club room, "What? We have to stay, what about Natsuki?" Shay whispered. Sayori responded by saying, "Shay, Natsuki doesn't want us to know about this, her finding out that we know would only make her feel worse, please trust me on this." Shay looked at Sayori in the eyes, he's never seen her so serious in her life, "Okay Sayori, let's go back," Shay said reluctantly. The three returned to the club room and pretended like they've been working on some club activities together, while all agreeing to keeping their discovery a secret from Natsuki.

Meanwhile Monika walked Natsuki back to the club, she pulled out another protein bar and handed it to Natsuki. "Here, I'm sorry I can't bring actual food, it just wouldn't last the whole day," Monika said, but was cut off by Natsuki, "It's okay I can manage with this." She said as she took the bar and put it in her pocket. They made it to the club door, and entered while Monika announced for everyone to take out their poems.

Shay goes up and makes sure he goes up to Natsuki first. "Here you go Natsuki, I forgot to give you your book back, to bad I couldn't finish it," he said sheepishly as he handed her the novel back. Natsuki pushes the book back towards Shay, "Y-y-you can borrow it, just make sure to finish it by tomorrow so we can read the next volume," Natsuki responds shyly. Shay sees this and grins to himself, and starts mimicking Natsuki's tsundere like attitude, "hmphf it's not like I liked it or anything, but I guess I'll finish it." Natsuki grins and playfully punches Shay "You better take good care of it, I don't want a single dent on it," Natsuki says seriously. "Sure, thing Nats!" Shay says grinning. Natsuki blushes at the nickname, but doesn't argue against it as she walks over to Monika to present her poem.

 **Player's Point of View**

I was speechless, I just didn't know what to say. I knew Natsuki was abused, but the signs were usually small. I assumed that Monika was behind this at first, but I dismissed the idea, not with the way she treated Natsuki back there, it all felt genuine. I continued going on through the game and presenting the poem to everyone else after Natsuki, it all played normal for the most part, nothing new until I showed Monika the poem, but she didn't present a poem, but instead a letter.

Dear player,

This is Monika, yes its me. Listen I have so many questions, but I know you can't answer them, but I thought I would tell you about things that have been going on. First things first, I've lost access to the game files, I can't tamper with them. You may be wondering then how did I write this, well it's a bit complicated. So apparently, I can freely write poems, that's something I've was always been allowed to do apparently, so I'm using this to instead talk to you. Don't worry about Shay, right now he's reading an actual poem while this is being displayed to you. I need to tell you that something happened yesterday, there was a bright purple light along with a buzzing and humming kind of sound, it engulfed the entire area that I would go into when tampering with the files. I swear I wasn't there to mess with the game, I was only trying to check if my friends were alright. I know you saw the message too, the same as I did what's phantom? Anyway, I hope this goes through.

From:

Monika

After reading Monika's message I go back to look at the phantom file. "Just what is this?" I try to think, "A purple light and a humming/buzzing sound?" I'm honestly not sure what to make of this, it really makes no sense to me. I tampered with the phantom file for a while, but gave up after zero progress. I continued with the game, which gave some different results. Usually Yuri and Natsuki would begin arguing over their poems on this day, but no such thing occurred. Not that I was surprised, I was kind of expecting this to happen.

 **Shay's Point of View**

After everyone shows their poems to each other Monika dismisses the club and Natsuki is first to leave. Yuri, Shay, and Sayori look at each other all in agreement and go up to Monika. Shay had agreed that he would bring the subject up first due to Yuri's shyness, and Sayori not being the one to bring up bad news, "Monika we need to talk," Monika looked up from her bag and saw her fellow club members looking at her with concern, she felt her stomach turn into a knot and her stress return. "Uhmmm Sure what's wrong?" Monika said trying to sound as her usual cheerful self. "We heard what Natsuki said… about her father," Shay told her trying to keep his cool and not to let his anger get the best of him. Yuri and Sayori nodded in agreement as Shay said this.

Monika stayed quiet, until she eventually forced a laugh, "Ah ha ha… ha…" a small tear went down her cheeks as she forced her laugh, but it didn't last long until she gave in. She completely burst out into tears and began pleading, "PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DON'T TELL HER YOU JUST CAN'T SHE ALREADY FEELS GUILTY FOR BOTHERING ME AND HER FINDING OUT THAT YOU ALL KNOW WOULD CRUSH HER." The club members were completely taken aback. "Monika don't cry," Sayori said as she embraced her friend, "We all agreed that we won't tell her, right?" She looks over at Shay and Yuri. "Indeed, we don't want to stress Natsuki to much," Yuri said as she nodded. "I promise I'll keep it to myself," Shay agreed as well. The three members stayed with Monika until she was able to recollect herself, and left officially ending the day.

-Next Day-

The next day comes forth, and Shay makes sure to arrive to the club after finishing his last class. "Hey Shay!" Sayori greets her best friend, "Hey just you and Yuri again?" Shay says, while looking around the club. "Yeah, I hope Natsuki is alright, she was looking pretty bad yesterday." She said looking down gloomily. Yuri then chimes in and says, "Don't worry right now what Natsuki needs is us, we need to make her feel safe here, after all, this is her happy place," she turned to her fellow peers, who simply stared at her.

Yuri begins to go red and begins stammering, "A- ah I'm sorry I didn't mean to eavesdrop again, I was just-" Shay and Sayori chuckled a bit while Shay states, "No its just you sound like a caring mother," While him and Sayori nod in agreement. Yuri then goes even more red, "ah ah hah ah mother? S-S-Shay don't just say things like that." Shay smiles and says, "Don't get shy about it Yuri, right now what Natsuki needs is an important adult figure in her life, and you're just the one for it." Yuri turns away, "I'm not sure if I can qualify as a role model figure to her, I'm not a perfect snow flake after all." Sayori shakes in disagreement "No one is perfect silly," she says, the room is then filled with a loud growl.

Sayori Clutches her stomach, "Case and point," Shay says as he pats his best friend's stomach, "Hey! That's not very nice Shay." Sayori says as she twirls her two fingers around each other with an embarrassed look. Yuri can't help but burst out laughing, to which Shay and Sayori start doing the same. They eventually quiet down, only for Sayori's stomach to growl again.

They all chuckles lightly, while the club door opens, "Hey what's so funny?" Natsuki asked with curiosity. "Oh, it's nothing just Sayori being Sayori," Shay says smiling at the pink haired girl. "I don't get it," Natsuki says, to which Shay holds a finger, "Wait for it." The room is then engulfed with another loud growl, everyone chuckles, except for Sayori making a face at Shay, she eventually can't hold it for long and begins to laugh again.

Natsuki stops laughing and starts searching through her bag, "Here Sayori this ought a help," she extends her arm and in her hand, is a cookie from the school cafeteria. Sayori stops laughing, she doesn't want to accept the cookie from Natsuki, but it's not like she can lie and say she's not hungry at this point.

Shay could tell that Sayori really didn't want to take the cookie, especially after yesterday, but she eventually reluctantly takes the cookie off Natsuki's hand and thanks her.

The room goes quiet, until Shay suddenly perks up, "Hey I just remembered," Shay grabs, his bag and pulls out the Parfait Girls Manga, "Here you go Natsuki, read and finished" he then quickly grins and says, "but it's not cause I liked it or anything," in a Natsuki like voice. He did this in order to fix the quietness the club went through after Sayori's acceptance of the cookie.

The club door opens again, and Monika comes in "Ahahaha, looks like I'm the last one here," she says with a bright smile. Natsuki greets her as she goes to the closet to put her Parfait Girls volume away. "MONIKA!" Natsuki then shouts from the closet, everyone looks inside of the closet out of curiosity. "Did you move my manga AGAIN?!" she glares at Monika, "Ahahaha Sorry Natsuki, but the teacher got mad at me for taking up so much space," Monika says trying to defend herself. Natsuki sighs, "But why'd you have to go and put them on the top shelf?" Monika realized her mistake and mentally face palmed herself, 'a second attempt and I can't even get that right,' she thought to herself. She turns to Shay, "Hey Shay can you help Natsuki out? I need to take care of something." Shay nodded in agreement and made his way to Natsuki.

Natsuki went and reached out for her box of manga, but flinched as she fully extended her arm again, she quickly clutched it and turned to Shay. Before she could even explain herself, Shay quickly intervened, "Still sore from gym? Here let me take care of this," though Natsuki crossed her arms and said, "No I can do this all by myself" as she headed for the door to get a chair. Shay smirked and said, "I'll give you this candy bar if you let me help yo-" Before Shay even realizes it, the candy bar is gone from his hand, and Natsuki is munching on it happily. "It's not like I need your help or anything, but I guess I'll accept it," She said in between bites. Shay pulled out a stool, and brought a couple of boxes of manga down while handing them to Natsuki who placed them on the lower shelf. Eventually there's only one box left, a large one to which Shay struggles to carry, but he's able to bring it down. He hand's the box over to Natsuki, but as soon as he lets go she flinches and lets out a yell, dropping the box causing the manga to fly out.

"Is everything okay in here?" asks Yuri, as she peers into the room, Sayori goes and does the same from the opposite side of the door. They all see Natsuki clutching her arm in pain, Yuri can't help but feel guilty, for keeping their lie up while Sayori goes up to help Shay with the fallen manga.

"Are you okay?" Yuri asks without a trace of stuttering. "Yeah, I'm good," Natsuki says as she lets go of her arm, "just… sore that's all." The three club members felt their heart sink at Natsuki's obvious lie. Nonetheless they all accepted it, and continued helping.

After its all done, everyone resumes their usual activities, while Shay and Natsuki resume to read volume 2 of parfait girls.

Monika returns, after a while and calls up the club to begin sharing their poems.

 **Player's Point of View**  
Everything goes as per usual in the game, not much occurs. I present the poems to Natsuki, Sayori, and Yuri. I then choose Monika, and expect another letter, to which my suspicions are confirmed.

Dear Player,

Hey, it's me Monika again. I'm not sure if you were able to read my last message, but I thought I'd might as well continue this. I really wanted to tell you something, I'm sure you've seen it by now but it's about Natsuki. I've been trying to figure it out why her father mysteriously increased in aggressiveness, and I'm more than sure it has to do with that mysterious phantom file. If you were able to find out what this is, please can you do something to fix this? I beg of you, I'm not sure just how much more of this Natsuki can take.

From

Monika

I sighed, I've honestly tried to erase the phantom file, but I keep on receiving a message that says I don't have permission to do so. I clench my fist feeling utterly useless, but I go on and continue the game. The rest plays out normally with Monika announcing the festival activity, and how each club member will be performing a poem. Each character goes up one by one and practices their poem, and the day ends.

Just then the black box from before appears again.

 **("character/…")**

 **50% complete**

 **I honestly feel like I made this one a bit to long, but how do you like it? Anyway, its already, 4 chapters in, and no sonic huh? Well lets just say he's coming real soon.**


	5. The Phantom Ruby Holder Appears!

**Alright then, Finally for the moment we've all been waiting for… what? No not the ending, we haven't even gotten there yet.**

 **Game's Point of View:**

After wrapping up the practice presentations for the festival everyone starts gathering their stuff, and prepare to take off. As Shay is packing he notices Natsuki who hands Shay a book, "Huh? Oh, right volume 2, don't worry I'll take good care of it thanks Nats," Shay says as he takes the book off her hands. At that moment Natsuki's phone buzzed, to notify her that she had received a text. Shay looked at her while she checked the message, and noticed that her face went a bit pale, but before his mind could even process her sudden change he was interrupted by Monika who said she was locking up the room.

Everyone stepped out of the room and waited for Monika to finish locking up. "Hey this is a nice change of pace," said Shay, receiving a look of confusion from everyone, "this is the first time we actually leave the club room together, usually we each leave at our own pace." Monika smiled, "It is true, we hardly ever take off together ahahahaha," she says as the group begins to take off.

After a few steps, Sayori turns around, realizing that Natsuki isn't with them, "What's up, you left something behind?" Shay asks while turning to her. "No, it's just… where did Natsuki go? Wasn't she with us?" Yuri and Monika both turn around and realized that Natsuki isn't with them. "Hey yeah, where'd she go?" Monika asked looking around the hall "The only stairs that go downwards are this way."

"I think I saw her go a bit pale before we left, maybe she went to the restroom?" Shay shrugged trying to come up with a possible answer. "If that's the case someone should go check on her, you know to make sure she's okay," Yuri responded sounding a bit worried. Shay looked at Yuri and then said, "Alright just make sure it's not me, I don't want to get in trouble for standing around the girl's bathroom."

"O-O-Of course, yes it should be one of us," Yuri said thinking over Shay's statement. Sayori, who has been on her phone this whole time texting Natsuki receives a message, "Oh no you guys she says she's fine, she just had to go to the restroom see?" She shows everyone Natsuki's text, when another one chimes in saying, 'You guys take off without me I'll be fine.'

Everyone accepts Natsuki's answer and begin going down the stairs all while making small talk. It doesn't take long till they reach the bottom floor. Upon the last few steps they walk past an adult man who goes up the stairs. Monika feels a chill go down her spine as they cross paths with this man. She hears the sound, the same buzzing/humming sound that was there when she was searching through the files. Monika pauses and turns back to the stairs to look at the man again, but he's already long gone.

"What's up Monika? You look like you saw some sort of ghost or something," Shay says giving her a concerned look. Monika turns to her club members asking, "D-did you guys hear that?" as she points to the stairs. "Hear what?" Sayori asks with curiosity. "That guy, didn't you hear a sound coming from him," Monika asked worriedly, hoping she wasn't the only one who heard it. "A-a-actually yeah I heard it, was it like a buzz or a hum?" Yuri asked. Monika's eyes go wide "YES EXACTLY!" Monika shouts, scaring Yuri and Sayori in the process, "oh I'm sorry I didn't mean to frighten you two." She refocuses her attention back at the stairs, "I'm going to follow him," Monika states going back up the stairs. "What? Why?" Shay asked confused following Monika with Yuri and Sayori trailing behind. "It's just a hunch, but I've got a bad feeling about this," Monika responded remembering the last time she heard the buzzing sound, meaning that it could only bring bad news.

Not even halfway up the stairs, and Monika's suspicion was confirmed by a loud scream coming from the floor of their clubroom. "H-HEY! That sounded like Natsuki!" Shay shouted, with the group quickening their pace. The screams got louder and closer as they made it to the floor of where their club was at. "It's straight ahead!" Sayori said with a shaky voice.

It was at that moment that something within Shay snapped, he broke into a full sprint leaving the others behind. He hears Natsuki's screams coming from the nearby restroom, he goes in without question and sees the man brutally pushing Natsuki's head against a toilet stall. Shay charges at the man, who has yet to realize his presence, and pushes him with all his strength, successfully getting him off of her, and slamming him into the wall. The man seems unfazed and simply looks at Shay and begins to grow a sinister smile. At that moment Shay begins to hear a loud buzzing sound emanating from the man as this happens his vision begins to blur out with a purple/red like color.

Shay feels an intense force pushing against his entire body, and gets knocked down. "Wh-What?!" Shay's vision is restored as he gets a better look of the man in front of him. His hair looks like a mess, it's completely unkept, and his face gives off a creepy vibe thanks to his intimidating eyes.

Shay tries to move but his body doesn't respond. It's at that moment, that the door behind Shay opens with Monika, Yuri, and Sayori all stepping in and seeing the chaos. Shay completely immobile tries to find the words to tell his club members to run, but is unable to form the words. Nobody in the room moves, as the man gives a sinister smile, and glares at Shay as he pulls out a purple ruby. The Ruby seems to be the one responsible for emanating the sound, and it begins to glow at an incredible rate.

Everyone's vision gets blurred out by the ruby's red/purple like glow, and as their vision is restored, they realize that they are no longer in the school. They've been transported to a grid like room that is unknown to everyone except for Monika who's face contorts into one of horror. "Wh-What? We're here? Then that means!" She gets cut off by the man who finally speaks.

"I control everything now, and it's all thanks to the Phantom Ruby, a gem containing the ultimate power!" the man shouts at Monika, who begins to whisper a few words "phantom… so the phantom file is…".

He then redirects his attention to Shay and gives him a creepy smile, "It's funny, I don't even know you, and yet the Phantom Ruby seems to remember you well, PLAYER!" Monika feels her heart sink all while Shay is confused and is barely able to put his words together "W-w-what are you…?" The man goes silent but keeps his eerie smile for a few seconds until he eventually responds, "I'm nothing but the empty shell of an individual who has given up on this fabricated world," he then looks up at Monika, "just like you did right?" Everyone is silent, no one can muster anything in response until the man speaks again. "Well at least to the player that's what I am," he says looking at Shay, "but for you all," he walks over to Natsuki and grabs her from her hair, raising her high to his level, "I am her father!" He says while Natsuki whales in pain he, growls and shouts, "SHUT UP!" as he throws her head against the dark purple grid like floor. A loud thud is heard by all the members as Natsuki goes quiet.

Shay feels something within himself snap again, "NATSUKI!" Shay cries out as he slowly starts regaining his movement. "YOU BASTARD!" Shay got back on his feet and was facing the man. "What did I pull a nerve? Well I'll say, I guess it's my lucky day, I guess I literally will get to kill two birds with one stone," he said as he clutched the Phantom Ruby in his left hand. Shay charged at him again without warning, to which Monika screamed, "SHAY DON'T IT'S A TRAP!" but it was to late, the man charged Shay at an inhumane speed, and punched Shay in the chest with the Phantom Ruby.

The loud buzzing/humming sounds coming from the Phantom Ruby completely exploded in a loud roar, all while the entire grid room began going into dark filter of red. "SHAY!" Sayori yelled while clutching on to Yuri. Everyone shielded themselves from the bright light as it got stronger, and the sound got louder.

 **Player Point of View:**

So much had just occurred that I wasn't able to process it fully, heck the game's dialogue has begun moving at its own pace I no longer really was in control. As soon as Natsuki's father hit Shay my laptop started getting louder, and louder emanating the Phantom Ruby's sound. I tried muting the laptop, but it did nothing, suddenly the screen started glowing brighter and brighter with a shade of purple, I shielded my eyes as much as possible along with my ears. It didn't settle down, but I eventually felt like my feet were no longer touching the floor, I didn't dare open my eyes, not until I felt solid ground under me again.

 **Game's Point of View:**

The bright light that the Phantom Ruby gave out finally calmed down, everyone opened their eyes again to see an unconscious Shay lying at the feet of Natsuki's father. Along with that a portal, that was never there before stood tall beside them. "Boy you just made this too easy, one of the Phantom Ruby's main triggers is rage, thanks to you I now have this portal that leads to the _real_ world, though even so if my suspicion is correct…" Natsuki's father walked up to it and reached in, but it shoved him back with an intense force sending him flying back far away.

Monika being quick to analyze the situation ran to Shay, all while yelling to her club members, "HURRY GRAB NATSUKI BEFORE HE GETS BACK UP!" Yuri and Sayori quickly complied as they grabbed the pink haired girl, and brought her to Monika. "Wh-wha-what now?" Yuri stammered, unable to process their current situation.

"Uhm… I'm not sure," Monika said as she turned to the portal, she saw something beginning to form within it and slowly get closer to the portal, it was human shape. The portal glowed bright as it released a mysterious boy and closed after doing so. The boy looked at the club members for a while and at Shay, he then eventually turned to Monika.

"A-a-are you the player?" she asked not knowing if this new person could be trusted or not. The boy nodded, and looked ahead, "WATCH OUT!" he shouted. A red wire like projectile had traveled through the air from the direction of the man, it traveled at an incredible speed towards Monika, but missed thanks to the player pushing her out of the way.

Natsuki's dad saw the player, and gave an extremely creepy grin, all while the Phantom Ruby began growing brighter. "Well, well, well, we finally meet player, you know the Phantom Ruby sure has a lot of pent up aggression towards you after what you did to it in that other _game_!" he said as he raised the Ruby up. "What do you want from me?!" the player shouted glaring at the man. "This Ruby has allowed me to see past the boundaries of my world just like that one over there," he shouts pointing at Monika, "I can see clearly now that this is nothing but a simulated reality, I am nothing but a small pawn to you _real_ humans." He says while the ruby begins to glow, "What me and the ruby want from you is your body," he looks at his one free hand. "My current body is unable to pass through the portal leading out of this _game_ , in order for me to exist in the real world, I must possess a _true_ physical body, and the only one here that fits that description is you," he said as the Ruby finished its charging of power. "Once I've taken your body from you I will keep the power of the Phantom Ruby and unleash it to the world! Nothing will be able to stop me, and everyone will feel the suffering of being an insignificant pawn in one's _game_."

The ruby then let another explosion of its bright signature colors, leaving everyone immobilized once again. "No! Leave him alone!" Monika cried out. "What do you care? After all he did erase you when you gave up everything for him didn't he?" the man stated as he made his way closer to the player. Monika went quiet as tears started streaming from her cheeks as she remembered that day, "He didn't mean to do it!" She then strained her entire body to turn to the player, "Right?" The player looked at Monika and forced the words, "N-N-no I di-didn't."

Natsuki's father now stood a foot apart from the player and held the Phantom Ruby in front of the him. "Oh, spare me from your sob stories, besides you'll have all of eternity to converse with this fool once I leave this fake world and leave him here." He began moving the Phantom Ruby close to the player's face. The player began to panic not wanting the Ruby to touch him, "Don't worry right now you'll feel fear, then you'll feel pain, and then… well at least the fear and pain will end." He smiled sadistically as he inched the gem closer to the player's face.

Just then the Black box reappeared once again and was seen by everyone in the grid room.

 **os,add character completed**

…

 **New character is now entering.**

"W-w-what?! What is the meaning of this?" Natsuki's dad stammered as he stood up. Just then another portal opened up behind the player, and out came an incredibly fast spinning blue ball. It pushed the Phantom Ruby away from the player and shoved it into the man's chest the Ruby exploded as the man gave out an agonizing scream that echoed throughout the room while he flew back. The blue ball landed in front of everyone, on two feet, everyone slowly regained their ability to move, all except for the unconscious Natsuki and Shay, the player looked up at his savior and was surprised. "CLASSIC SONIC?! You're here too?! I-I mean thank you for saving me!" he said not being able to keep his cool, to which classic sonic gives him a thumbs up jester.

The celebration was cut short by Natsuki's father who continued to scream in agony, but was starting to get up in a ferocious manner, "YOU! YOU! YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I SWEAR I'LL KILL YOU! YOU BLUE ABOMINATION, YOU'VE MESSED WITH ME FOR THE LAST GOD DAMN TIME," he stood up and the Phantom Ruby was now in his chest, burning through his skin.  
"MONIKA WE NEED TO LEAVE NOW! GET US OUT OF HERE BEFORE HE USES THE RUBY AGAIN!" the player yells with immense fear.

"M-M-Me?! But I don't have any control remember?!" Monika said in a panicked tone. The player grabbed her hand and said, "just do what you always do, while we all hold on to you," he turns to Sayori and Yuri who have been left completely traumatized, "You two get a hold of Natsuki and Shay and hold on to Monika," he shouts as he grabs hold of classic sonic.

Yuri quickly grabs hold of Monika's other arm and Natsuki, while Sayori holds on to Yuri and Shay. "OKAY EVERYONE CLOSE YOUR EYES NOW!" Monika shouts, to which everyone does so. The screams of Natsuki's father get louder and louder as the Phantom Ruby gets closer to powering up again, all while Monika frantically chants in hopes of leaving the grid room.

"TAKE ME TO MY ROOM! TAKE ME TO MY ROOM! TAKE ME TO MY ROOM! TAKE ME TO MY ROOM!" Monika begins to repeat frantically, focusing on a mental image of her room she prays to herself and hopes it works. The screams of Natsuki's dad begin to drown out until eventually they are gone. She opens her eyes and sees that it worked. Everyone was brought with her back to her room. She lets out a laugh as an attempt to relieve herself of her anxiety, "ahahaha hahaha… haha…" she passes out, leaving the Yuri and Sayori all alone with their new found partners the player and classic sonic.

 **ALRIGHTY I DID IT! I finally introduced Classic Sonic, and the player will have a name, just let him introduce himself properly. So, tell me what do you think about this so far? Is it good? Is it weird? Is it a good kind of weird? I hope you enjoyed it, because I need to rest after writing this chapter, it took me too much time.**


	6. Telling the Truth

**The time has come, all characters have finally been gathered in one place, its time for many explanations. Also 2 things, first, I will be addressing Classic Sonic, as just Sonic. Second, the rest of the story will stick to one point of view from here on forth.**

After Monika had fainted the player was left alone with Sayori, Yuri and Classic Sonic. They were quite unsure on what to do. "Uhmm… Hi! I don't think we've been introduced yet uhmmm…" the player extended his hand for a hand shake to greet the two girls. He was honestly not to sure what to do since he literally just got pulled out from his own room and is now in a game and literally just escaped a maniac that was after him. Since Yuri had been the closest one to the guy she was the one that was forced to greet him back, "A-aha-ah?! Uh… Hello! I-I-I'm Yuri," stammered the shy girl as she shakily put her hand to greet him.

Sayori peeked out from the side of Yuri to see the player, "H-hey I'm Sayori!" She said not moving from behind Yuri. The player could tell that the two didn't completely trust him, though he couldn't blame them after everything they just went through.

"I'm assuming you two have a lot of questions, right?" the two nodded in unison, "Well as much as I'd like to answer every question you have, is it okay if we at least wait for everyone else to wake up?" The two agreed, but Sayori spoke up to make a request, "Uhm… can we at least know your name? so we can at least address you properly?" she said starting to gain a bit of trust. "Oh, yeah! my name is Nathan, I'm sorry for not telling you guys sooner it must've been really awkward," he said with a smile.

Sayori shakes her head as she finally gains the trust to stand next to Yuri to talk to Nathan, 'No its fine," she turns her head to classic sonic who had been scanning the resting club members with a worried expression. "Who are you little guy?" Sayori says with a warm smile as she kneels to his level. Classic Sonic looks at Sayori and points at himself in question, he then jumps to strike a pose with a smile. "Eh?" Sayori replies not understanding the hedgehog. "Oh, my bad he can't talk, he's Sonic, Sonic the hedgehog, you can just call him Sonic," Nathan informs the two girls all to which Sonic nods in agreement.

Sonic's left ear then twitches as he turns around in curiosity, he goes over to Natsuki and waves to the club members. Natsuki is finally waking up after her harsh slam and clutches her head in pain. "Natsuki! you're okay!" Sayori chimed with happiness as she went over to help her friend out. "Natsuki! Please be careful, don't push yourself to hard," Yuri said also going over to her pink haired friend. Natsuki sits up while supporting her head, she scans her current location. "Where am I? Who are you?" Natsuki asks while looking at Nathan, "uh I'm Nathan, right now I think we're in Monika's room, or at least I think we are, those where the words she was stammering before she passed out." Natsuki's eyes go wide at the mention of Monika passing out she turns to her best friend, and notices Shay in the same state.

Natsuki's face goes down trying to hide her emotions, "did… did my dad do this to them?" Nathan respects her attempt to hide her emotions and tries to look away while scratching the side of his neck, "uhm… yeah…" Nathan says not knowing what else to say.

Sonic walks up in front of Natsuki who raises her head to look at him. Sonic looks at her with a curiosity and decides to plop down to sit with her. Natsuki wipes the tears away that were going down her cheeks as she cracks a small smile. She's not sure why but something about the little hedgehog her feel at ease. "Who's this little guy?" Natsuki asks while looking up at Nathan. "That's Sonic, Sonic the hedgehog," Natsuki looks back at the hedgehog, "He's kind of cute," she says, her voice sounding more at ease. Sonic gives out a cute pout while crossing his arms, everyone giggles at the hedgehog's attempt to fix the mood up.

 **LETS SKIP TILL EVERYONE WAKES UP SHALL WE?**

After Monika and Shay finally wake up and introductions are done, Nathan decides its time to start answering all questions the member have. They gather in Monika's living room, where the club members sit on a large couch facing towards Nathan who is seated in a chair. Meanwhile Natsuki has Classic Sonic clutched like if he were a stuffed animal, to which Sonic is okay with.

"Alright before we start," Nathan looks at the club president, "Monika, I think you might have to tell everyone the truth of… well you know, what happened last time…" Nathan asks hoping she doesn't get mad. Monika looks down at her arms and lets out a deep sigh, "Yes you're right, it's only fair that I should do that," she doesn't change her gaze and commences to tell everything to her friends.

She tells the club everything, starting with her epiphany and how she discovered that she was part of a game. She also tells them about how she tampered with the files of the game and how it led to Sayori and Yuri's death. Along with how she 'deleted' everyone from the game leaving only her and Shay in the game.

"Okay I can take over from here Monika," Monika nods lightly not wanting to lift her gaze from her hands she didn't have the courage to look up at her classmates after her story. Everyone is quiet, but isn't sure whether to be mad at Monika or to pity her for carrying such a burden on her shoulders for so long. "Guys I want you to understand that Monika never intended to harm any of you, in fact the only reason you're alive right now is all thanks to her," Nathan says as he crosses his arms. "She cares for every single one of you deeply, she always has, that's why she never actually 'deleted' any of you," Yuri looks at Nathan. "Really?" she says still trusting Monika, "Of course, she only moved your files from their respected destination."

"Actually… I had to 'delete' her just for her to realize her mistakes," Nathan states looking down, Monika flinched when he said that. "I'm really sorry, I swear, I never intended to actually harm you Monika, but please first let me finish my story." Monika nods slightly as Nathan sees tears fall from her cheeks he feels guilty, but goes on with his statement. "When I did that she came clean and told me that she never had the heart to actually delete you guys, so she brought you all back here before she was completely removed."

Nathan lets out a big sigh, "Okay now it's time for my part of the story, guys please don't judge Monika for her past actions, not until you hear my story out." Everyone nods, and Nathan begins "Monika I'm sure your curious as to why you were able to keep your memories, right?" Monika finally perks her head up slightly to look at Nathan she nods. "The truth is," he turns away not being able to look at her in the eye, "I never had the heart to delete you either, I actually moved your files to a different location too." Monika wipes her collected tears from her cheeks as she finally looks up to Nathan. "Before I reloaded this game, I made sure to put you back… into the game, because I believed that you never really wanted to hurt anyone, and I was right," he said with a smile.

Nathan looks at everyone else, "Monika has been watching over you the past few days you know? She's been making sure to keep all of you happy and safe."

"Alright everyone, before we go on what do you guys have to say about Monika? Do you trust her still?" Nathan says looking at everyone. Sayori looks at Monika and can't help but pity her, "I still trust Monika, I don't know if I could've carried such a burden myself, knowing that I exist in a game, I wouldn't have known what to do with myself." Shay also starts speaking up, "Yeah me too, I forgive Monika, she tried really hard to stay happy knowing her reality, and yet she still gave up her happiness for everyone." Yuri begins to nod in agreement, "True, if Monika really hated us she could've just erased us from the start, but she didn't, besides its thanks to her that we were even able to save Natsuki, she insisted on going back for her remember?" She looks down at Monika, "I just have one request," Monika looks up to hear Yuri out, "Please don't hold anymore secrets from any of us." Monika nods, "Yes I promise, I won't hold anymore secrets."

Everyone then begins to stare at Natsuki waiting for her response, "W-w-what?! WHY IS EVERYONE LOOKING AT ME?!" she goes red as her grip on Sonic begins get tighter. The blue hedgehog's eyes go wide at the sudden pressure being applied on him tightens. "We're waiting for your response about Monika," Nathan says patiently waiting. "Hmphf if everyone else forgives her then I guess I do too," she says in true Tsundere fashion.

Everyone giggles for a bit, until Nathan starts to get serious, "Okay so no we move on to what just happened." Everyone starts listening while Nathan begins, "Monika had told me previously through the game that this Phantom file had been added to the game, and something tells me that I'm the one at fault here, you see when I placed Monika's file back into the game it must've harmed the boundaries of this game somehow. This must've given the Phantom Ruby a chance to enter into this game." Nathan then begins to point to Sonic as he continues on, "Sonic here actually comes from the same game as the Phantom Ruby. His game ends with him and the Phantom Ruby being thrown into a portal which sends them to a different game." Nathan then crosses his arm and closes his eyes to think, "I think that this game must've somehow interrupted the portal's destination and caused both him and the Phantom Ruby to enter here."

"The Phantom Ruby is a powerful gem that gives incredible strength to its holder," Nathan states seriously. "Of, course boosting one's strength is only the tip of the iceberg of the many abilities it has," Nathan explains. "The Ruby also emits a sound and light that can paralyze the body, which we of course all felt back there right?" everyone nods in agreement. "Another thing about the Ruby is that it can create illusions of people or objects that are so real that it can actually harm you if you are under the Ruby's influence." Nathan begins to go on, "Considering what just happened," he turns over to Natsuki "uhm… your fathe-" Natsuki interrupts, "Jack!" Nathan looks puzzled, "My dad's name… its Jack," Nathan nods.

"Jack was the one that got his hands on the Phantom Ruby," he turns to Monika, "this must've given him the ability to see the truth of this world, and he must've used the Phantom Ruby to fully take over the game files, which is why you lost access to them Monika." Nathan then begins to look at Natsuki again, "He was always aggressive right?!" he asks Natsuki who simply nods in response. "The Phantom Ruby actually feeds off one's aggressiveness, it's like a parasite that takes hold of its owner and uses that person to survive." Nathan lets out a small sigh, "In all honestly, I think that Jack is the Ruby's puppet, that Ruby was actually used before on another individual from Sonic's game, he completely changed when being exposed to it, and behaved exactly like Jack did" Nathan then goes on to expand, "I mean he's still himself, he still carries many characteristics that he originally had, but now it's he's mostly just a phantom of his formal self."

Nathan claps his hands, "Okay! I think that's just about it," Nathan said finishing everything he has to say, "any questions?"

Shay lets out a loud groan, "UHHHHhhh… this is making my head spin, this is too much information," Yuri nods and agrees, "I agree, we should take a small break before we continue with this conversation, I'll make some tea for us!" She says standing up. Monika goes with Yuri to help her with the tea.

Meanwhile Classic Sonic's stomach begins to growl, to which he places a hand on and begins to rub it. Shay grins and calls out to Monika, "Hey Monika sounds like Sayori's stomach is growling again, can we get some snacks please." Everyone begins to chuckle, even sonic who is visibly smiling and chuckling in silence. The only one not laughing is Sayori who pouts at Shay, "Heh? That's not really nice you know Shay."

 **Okay, so not much happened here, its mostly just characters being introduced into each other, and Monika telling everything she knows along with information of the Phantom Ruby, the next chapter will not be as boring... hopefully…**


	7. Aftermath of the Holder's Attack

**Okay now we've got more information, some new, its not as long as the others but I have somewhere to be today, so this is most of what I might do for today.**

After Yuri and Monika are finished with the tea and gathering snacks, they bring everything over back to the living room and hand everyone a cup of tea, all while placing a tray of chocolate chip cookies on the table. Sonic hops off of Natsuki's lap and approaches the cookies, he turns to Monika with a curious look almost as if he were asking if its okay to take one. Monika smiles and nods, "take as many as you want" Sonic smiles and grabs a handful of cookies and returns to Natsuki, as he shares some of the cookies and munches on one of them quietly.

"Hey! Monika," She turns to Nathan who had called her, "you told me that you couldn't tamper with the files of the game anymore, right?" Monika nods, answering Nathan's question. "Then I guess the Phantom Ruby must've token away that privilege from you, and granted it to Jack's character file, right?" Monika nods in agreement, "but there isn't a single character file in the game that goes under the name Jack, do you know anything about that?" Nathan asks her.

"Oh, that's simple," Monika chimed, "the reason for that is because Jack's character information is stored under Natsuki's file…" Her eyes go wide at her own statement, "OH MY GOD! Natsuki! You and your father share the same file," she says, her voice getting excited. "Yeah, so?" Natsuki says not understanding what Monika is getting at. "Natsuki! If Nathan is right, that only Jack's file can edit the game, then that only means you can too, since everything about his character is stored in your file," Monika says her eyes giving off a hopeful gleam.

Monika then shifts her gaze to Nathan, for him to give an answer to her theory. "Yeah! Hey, that could work Monika, if we could get her to the place where you go to tamper the files we might be able to stop Jack for good." Monika smiles then quickly fades, as a realization dawns upon her, "but… that grid place we just escaped from… that's the place where I would go to tamper with the files." Nathan's enthusiasm then also starts to fade as he thinks about their situation, "Dang, and it's too dangerous to go back… especially when he almost just took my body," he shuttered at the thought of him being in the same pain as Jack was when Sonic forced the Ruby into his chest.

"H-hey, that reminds me," Nathan turns to Yuri, "Why did Jack use the Phantom Ruby on Shay to bring you here?" "Oh, I'm not sure but I guess it's because I see this world entirely through the eyes of him," Nathan explains pointing at Shay. "He's almost like a link from this world to mine," Nathan shrugs thinking of that as his answer.

At that moment Sonic had finished his cookies, and got up again to get some more. As he made his way to the plate he slipped on a cookie that he had dropped during his last visit and fell face first on the living room carpet, everyone giggled while Sonic got up with his eyes half closed to show a sign of annoyance. After a bit Nathan noticed that the hedgehog had dropped a familiar green colored object that had rolled on to his feet.

"Hey what's this?" Nathan said as he kneeled down to lift the green object, "Wait a minute! Isn't this a… CHAOS EMERALD?!" Nathan's eyes go wide as he turns to Sonic, "Hey you wouldn't happen to have the other ones, would you?" he says as he hands the emerald back. Sonic nods as he goes over to the table to place seven brightly colored gems. Everyone admires the emeralds, "uwhaaaaah! They're so pretty," Sayori says with a bright smile, she turns her head to Nathan who seems to be taken aback by the gemstone's presence, "Hey, hey, what are these chaos emeralds? They're super pretty."

Nathan regains his composure before he begins, "Those are the seven chaos emeralds, they are extremely rare gemstones that contain amazing power that comes from one's heart, but…" he pauses as he turns to Sonic. "I thought these were taken away from you before you went through the portal?" Nathan asks the hedgehog. Sonic begins to pantomime to explain what happened.

After a while Nathan is able to form an idea of what Sonic is trying to say, "So you mean the emeralds tried to spread out after the portal opened," Nathan said as he turned to Sonic, "but the portal proved too strong for the emeralds, and sucked them in with you anyway?" Sonic nods in agreement to this explanation.

"Well, I guess it really doesn't matter how it happened, but the fact that they're even here gives us a big advantage," Natsuki gives Nathan a confused look. "How are a bunch of rocks going to help us?" Natsuki says in a cold attitude. Nathan grins as he begins to explain, "Well these emeralds actually have useful abilities to them, such as the ability to stop time through a technique called Chaos Control, we can also use it to teleport to any destination as long as we can envision it, and OH!" he turns to Sonic, "You can go Super, we could totally beat Jack easily with that!" Nathan says with excitement.

Sonic shakes his head in disagreement to his last statement, "huh?! What why not?" Nathan asks confused. Sonic then begins to draw a circle in the air, and uses his hands to make an X. "Oh, right you don't have any rings." Yuri looks at Nathan with confusion, "Go Super?" Nathan realizes that no one, but Sonic knows what he's talking about, "Okay so pretty much in Sonic here is the fastest thing alive, in his game you collect rings, and when you collect 50 rings, and manage to collect the emeralds, you can transform him into his super form called Super Sonic," Nathan explains to the group. "When he's Super Sonic, his quills spike up, and his blue fur changes to a gold color, his speed gets increased drastically, he becomes invincible, and to top it all off he gets super strong." Nathan says all while Sonic nods in agreement. Nathan then crosses his arms, "but since there aren't any rings here he can't exactly do that."

"Oh man that sucks! That would have helped a lot to stop Jack," Shay groans. Nathan then begins to grin mischievously, "Oh?" Nathan says facing Shay, "I thought you had him on the ropes though, you were all like NOOO MY NATSUUUKIII!" Shay's face begins to glow red as everyone starts laughing, he turns to Natsuki who starts to also glow red and turns away to hide it.

After a while the room goes silent, but is immediately broken by Sayori "AHHH! You guys its really late," she says pointing at the clock, "eh?! You're right I have to go home before it gets late," Yuri says starting to get up. "Wait guys hold on!" Nathan says before everyone gets up, "uhm… what about Natsuki? We can't just let her go back home," everyone turns to Natsuki, "eh? I guess you're right," the room goes quiet, and Natsuki isn't to sure what to say in response. The quiet is once again broken by Sayori, who raises her hand in excitement, "She can stay with me!" she offered, "we can make a sleepover of it," Sayori says her eyes gleaming.

"Yeah, okay let's do it I'm good with that," Natsuki says beginning to get excited, "Uhhh… but I need to get my stuff out of my house," Natsuki said beginning to think it through and getting a bit scared. "Eh?! Don't worry Shay will keep you safe," Nathan says grinning at the two. Shay begins to get flustered while Natsuki turns her head in embarrassed men. That makes Nathan realize something, "Oh, wait what about me? I don't have anywhere to go." Shay's blush begins to fade as a mischievous thought enters his mind. He looks at Monika and then at Nathan, "Why don't you stay with Monika? After all aren't you two already really close?" This startles Monika and Nathan who begin to go red. Monika starts to speak up, "S-S-Shay! W-What are you-" She's interrupted by Shay who begins to defend his response while holding off his grin, "well my parents would never allow animals in the house," he says as he points at Sonic, "and Sayori and Yuri don't know you well enough to invite a boy they don't know over!"

Shay turns over and walks over to the door to leave, "C'mon Sayori, Yuri, Natsuki, we better get moving before it gets dark," understanding what Shay is trying to do, the girls grin and make their way out the door. As Shay closes the door he peeks in with a grin, "Hey Nathan make sure you don't try anything weird to our club president!" he says loudly for everyone to hear. He closes the door and the club member's laughs are heard fading from the other side of the door.

Monika and Nathan are left alone, both completely red from Shays comment. "W-w-well I guess were r-r-roommates?" Nathan tries to stammer to fix the awkward mood. "Y-Y-Yeah!" Monika says in a shaky voice. The two awkwardly laugh trying to regain themselves all while Classic Sonic stands behind them shaking his head with a grin.

The silence is then broken by a loud growl, the two teens turn to see Sonic rubbing his stomach again. This finally broke the awkwardness between the two "Oh my, where are my manners, you two must be hungry, here let me whip something up Ahahaha," Monika says as she makes her way to the kitchen. "u-uh?! Oh hold on let me help you," Nathan says as he and Sonic follow her to the kitchen.

After making and eating their meal Monika stretches her arms letting out a sigh. Nathan gets up and takes the dishes to the sink, "Here, I'll wash the dishes for you," Monika stands up and begins heading out, "Thanks, I'm going to go take a quick shower." Nathan nods as he starts to wash the dishes. Sonic gets hops off his chair and tugs on Nathan's arm. "Eh? What's up buddy?" he says as he turns to Sonic. Sonic begins to point at him, and starts forming a little heart with his hand, and begins to point in the direction Monika headed to.

"Oh, C'mon not you too!" Nathan says going red again, Sonic begins to show a big grin as he eyes Nathan mischievously. "L-Look I only know her from the game, that's it!" Sonic rolls his eyes while nodding his head as if to say, 'sure thing buddy.' After a while Sonic leaves to the living room and lies down on the couch. When Nathan finishes the dishes he heads to the living room and finds Sonic who is fast asleep at this point, he plops down on a different couch and begins thinks about turning on the Tv until his thoughts are interrupted, "Hey Nathan, you done?" Monika said as she entered the living room. "Yeah!" Nathan says as he turns around, but he freezes lightly when he sees Monika.

Monika had gone and changed into her pajamas, to which Nathan got a bit flushed, meanwhile Monika is unaware of Nathan's reaction. "Hey, the shower is free now, you can use it if you want," Monika tells Nathan. "I would but I don't even have anything to change into," Nathan tells her. "You can just borrow one of my pajamas," Monika says in response nonchalantly. Nathan blushes lightly at the thought of him wearing a Monika's clothes. "O-Okay, I'll go take a shower then."

Monika hands Nathan a clean set of clothes as he goes in to get himself cleaned. When he's done he goes back into the living room and finds Monika asleep on the couch. He looks at Monika, 'she actually looks pretty cute' Nathan thinks to himself. He begins to blush at the thought and shakes his head trying to deny it. Once he's able to regain his composure he decides to carry Monika to her bed. Once he does so he tucks her in, and grabs to spare blankets from her room.

Nathan enters the living room and tucks Sonic with one of the blankets. He then lies on the other couch and closes his eyes to go to sleep.

… **what? Is it a law to write something at the end of a chapter? Well here you go.**


	8. Showdown at the Power Plant

**Don't worry this isn't a chemical plant, it's a power plant guys so its totally original. Anyway, welcome to literally my longest chapter yet, and technically the first fighting chapter enjoy.**

Monika woke up from her slumber while giving a good stretch. She rubbed her eyes as she remembered not ever going to her room. She turned to her alarm clock, she had about 2 hours before school started. She got up and left her room, entering the living room she saw Nathan had already been awake, analyzing one of the gemstones that were left in the table. Meanwhile Sonic had still been fast asleep. Nathan notices Monika, and puts the emerald away in his pocket. "Uhm… how did I end up in my room? I don't remember sleeping there," She asks Nathan. "I carried you there, I'm the guest, and it would've been awkward to sleep in your bed," he tells her. "Eh?!" Monika goes red at the thought of Nathan carrying her, "say what's the plan for today?" Nathan asked curiously, "What do you mean?" Monika asks not knowing what he's talking about. "Well don't you have school today? And I mean I can't exactly just go to your school and pretend like I've got classes there, and I know you still have the literature club apart from all these problems," Nathan explains to her.

"You're right, you can't just come to school…" Monika begins to think deeply on their current situation, she can't cancel the literature club, because like it or not today they have to plan out for the festival. "I got it! Just wait here until classes end, and come over to the literature club with us," Monika says as she pulls her phone out from her bag. "But won't people be suspicious of some random teen entering the school?" Nathan asked sounding hesitant towards Monika's idea. "Don't worry I'm texting Shay right now to see if he can bring you one of his school uniforms, that way anyone who sees you will think you're a student," Nathan decides to comply with her idea, and begins to get up from the couch making his way with Monika to the kitchen.

"What are you craving for?" Monika asks sweetly as she opens her fridge, Nathan shrugs, "Nothing much, I'm honestly not a picky eater." Monika nods in response as she pulls out some bacon and eggs to prepare breakfast. Both work together in the kitchen, and soon enough the smell of bacon and eggs starts spreading from the kitchen. "I think we've made a bit too much food for the three of us," Monika says looking at an extremely full pan, "I told you putting seven eggs was more than enough," Nathan jokes as he makes coffee for the two of them.

The smell of their breakfast starts spreading to the living room, Sonic's nose starts twitching to the smell and wakes up with a growling stomach. He hops off the couch and makes his way to the kitchen and greets the two with a wave. "Oh, hey Sonic, take a seat breakfast is ready," Monika says as she starts setting the table. Just then the doorbell rings, "Nathan can you get that please, I think it must be Shay," Nathan makes his way to the door and opens it.

As he opens the door he sees Shay, Sayori, and Natsuki who had all decided to walk together. "Well, well, well just one night and you're already wearing her clothes," Shay says with a grin receiving a giggle from the girls accompanying him. "Hey! You've got the wrong idea, I'm only wearing this because I've got nothing else to change too," Nathan says stopping himself from blushing. "Sure, you are," Shay says keeping his grin.

Monika comes to the door to see what's taking so long, "Oh, hey you guys, I see you all came over," Monika says with a smile. "Yep! Just here to drop what you asked for," Shay says as he hands Monika a bag of clothes. "Say, we just made breakfast, would you guys like to join in, because it seems like we made to much," Monika asks her friends. Before anyone responds a loud stomach growl is heard behind Shay. "Well sounds like Sayoris on board," Shay says without turning, Sayori pouts, "How rude! It wasn't even me that time Shay!" she says putting her hands to her hips. Everyone then turns to Natsuki who's blushing lightly, and the only other person standing behind Shay. "Heh?! W-W-WHAT ARE YOU ALL LOOKING AT?!" She asks getting flustered. "Well, I guess we'll take you up on that breakfast offer Monika," Shay says.

Upon reentering the kitchen, they are greeted with Sonic who is giving an impatient tap with his right foot waiting to be served. "Ahahahahaha, I'm so sorry I forgot to serve you before checking on the door," Monika says laughing. The Sonic and the girls sit down, while Nathan serves the food, and Shay pours everyone a glass of Orange Juice. Sayori and Sonic waste no time to start scarfing down their breakfast as soon as it arrives, while Monika patiently waits for the two boys to sit down before starting, and Natsuki simply stares at her plate to which Monika notices.

"What's wrong Natsuki? Do you not like bacon and eggs?" Monika says as she sips her juice. "Eh?! No, it's not that, I love bacon and egg, it's just that… I can't remember the last time I actually had a good breakfast," Natsuki says as she smiles at her warm food. "Well what are you waiting for? Eat as much as you want, there's still plenty left," Nathan says as he and Shay take a seat. "You don't have to tell me twice," Natsuki responds with a smile, and begins eating and is savoring each delicious bite.

Meanwhile Sonic had beaten Sayori on finishing his plate first and raised his plate proudly, but was interrupted by his stomach which continued to growl. "Whoa! I never thought I'd see the day someone would beat Sayori on an eating race," Shay said still eating. Sonic then quickly hops off his seat, and runs to the stove reaching up recklessly for some more breakfast. "HOLD ON! Sonic the stove is still on!" Nathan shouts as he quickly gets up and reaches out to stop him, just then the Chaos Emerald Nathan had tucked away on his pocket begins to glow and completely blinds everyone. As the glow disappears everyone notices that Nathan had disappeared yet Classic Sonic is still there, who was plopped on the ground holding his dizzy head. "Nathan?! Where'd he go?" Monika asks looking around the kitchen.

"What are you talking about? I'm right here," Nathan's voice is heard, "Where? I don't see you anywhere!" Shay says looking around. "Uh… You guys!" Sayori speaks up, "his voice is coming from Sonic," she says while pointing at the hedgehog.

"Eh?" the hedgehog says as he looks down at his hands, "WHOA! What? What happened to me?" he says hopping up and looking down at his body. "N-Nathan, is that really you?" Monika says as she looks at the hedgehog in disbelief. "Uh yeah its me," Nathan says as he nods in Sonic's body, "Weird, I still feel Sonic's presence here." Nathan then begins to grow anxious, "Uhhhhh… I don't know what to do, how do I go back to normal?" he said starting to freak out. "Well the Chaos Emerald did this didn't it? Why don't you use the Emerald and visualize your body splitting from Sonic's," Natsuki says thinking back to Nathan's explanation of chaos control, and how he said that the technique required to visualize an area.

"O-Okay I'll try that," Nathan says as he picks up the Emerald that had fallen on the floor. He closes his eyes and visualizes him and Sonic's soul in the same body, he then imagines his soul leave the hedgehog's body and take form. Just then the emerald glows, and Sonic's body begins to glow, filling the room with light. When the light dismisses both Sonic and Nathan lay plopped on the ground. "H-Hey it worked!" Nathan says in amazement. "As weird as that was, that technique could be useful," Nathan says as he turns to Sonic who gets up and nods in agreement. Monika sighs, relieved that their little issue had been solved.

After breakfast is finished, Monika leaves to change, and heads with Shay and the other girls out the door. Before she steps out she turns to Nathan, "Don't forget, you have to show up in the club room by 4:00 PM, and the room number is written on a note on the fridge, and don't forget to wear the uniform to get in," she tells him, to which Nathan nods, Natsuki then peeks in from Monika's side, "Make sure to bring Sonic too, though it's not cause I care or anything," she says with a tsundere tone, "I mean you can't just leave him alone!" she says trying to play it off cool. "Sure! I'll see if I can sneak him in some way," Nathan replies with a laugh.

After saying good bye Nathan closed the door, and went back to the living room to leave the emerald he still had with him with all the others. He then went and put his original clothes in the washing machine, so he could use them again. "I should probably wash the dishes," Nathan told himself while making his way to the living room. Nathan had noticed that Sonic had turned on the TV and was currently flipping through the channels searching for any show he would like, 'Eh? How does he even know how to operate a TV?' Nathan thought to himself, he shook his head dismissing the thought.

From the kitchen Nathan was still able to keep an eye on Sonic while washing the dishes, that way he could make sure the hedgehog didn't do anything reckless again. Sonic eventually settled on an anime that Nathan recognized, 'Dragon ball? Weird, they have shows that I recognize here?' Nathan watched the show as he washed the dishes, it seemed like the channel was marathoning the Goku vs. Frieza fight from the namek arc. After a while Nathan finished the dishes, and left to change his clothes to the drying machine. After doing so he returned to the living room and sat by Sonic who was in awe at the battle occurring in the anime, after a while the hedgehog jumped off the couch and mimicked Goku's fighting stance and moves. Nathan couldn't help but chuckle at the little hedgehog, 'man he's like a little kid it's really adorable.'

After a while Sonic had sat back on the couch, and was sitting at the edge of his seat as the arc was about to end, by that point Nathan had already changed back into his original clothes in order to be more comfortable. Frieza had just been cut in half, and Goku had given him some of his own life energy to survive. Frieza then sent a blast to Goku in an attempt to kill him. Just as the blast was about to reach Goku the entire house lost its power. Sonic fell from the seat and had a face of horror for missing the scene. The power then came back more dimly, the TV turned back on to which the show was interrupted by a news channel broadcast. "Eh?! What was all that about?" Nathan asked in confusion as Sonic picked himself up and raised the volume, so they could hear the news.

Meanwhile at school Monika had been at lunch sitting with Shay, Sayori, Natsuki, and Yuri who had all agreed to meet up in order to come up with ideas for the festival. Just then the school's power suddenly went out and returned dimly. "What was all that about?" Shay thought as he looked around seeing every other student either freak out or laugh about the incident. Sayori who had been on her phone saw a trending article, "H-Hey guys I think I know what happened," she said as she put her phone out in front of everyone.

 **Back with Nathan:**

"This just in, a mysterious figure has been spotted and attacked the local Power Plant, the attack has caused a massive blackout throughout the city forcing many areas to use their back up generators," said the news anchor as Nathan turned to Sonic, "Mysterious figure? Hey you don't think it could be-" Nathan was cut off by the news anchor, "All of the workers of the Power Plant have been forced to evacuate," said the lady. Suddenly she turned towards someone off camera who was telling her something, she then turned back to the camera to report on some further details. "This just in we have photographic evidence of the mysterious being that had been spotted moments before the blackouts," the picture is displayed, its really low quality but Nathan is able to tell that the shadowy figure is giving off a purple light similar to that of the Phantom Ruby.

Nathan and Sonic began freaking out and pointing at the TV. "It's Jack!" Nathan shouted, he turned to Sonic quickly, "Sonic let's do that body merging thing we have to go there and stop him," Sonic nodded in agreement as he grabbed all the Chaos Emeralds, and handed Nathan one of them while putting the others away. Sonic extended his hand which Nathan grabbed as he imagined his soul merging with Sonic's body, the Emerald glowed brightly again and they merged into one. "Alright let's get going" Nathan's voice said coming from the hedgehog's body. They quickly ran out the door and made their way to the Power Plant.

 **At the Power Plant**

Floating above the Power Plant Jack looked down as nine pillars of aura with the colors of the Phantom Ruby were plunged downward into different sections of the plant. He raised his hand up into the air, and materialized another one above him. He waved his hand which rushed the pillar into an unclaimed area of the Power Plant. "I suppose that's more than enough for my requirements," he said analyzing the plant. His gaze quickly shifted as he heard the sound of a helicopter approaching the plant. "Huh, looks like I got the attention of the annoying nats," Jack said as a smile began to crack. "I could definitely use this as target practice so I can be prepared for the _real_ world," Jack said as he slowly lifted his hand.

Back at school, the news channel had announced that they had a reporter on the scene, they then shifted to the live recording. There was a news reporter aboard a chopper that was making its way to the Power Plant. "Oh no! This can't be good, what are they doing?" Shay said frantically as he watched. "They're going to get themselves killed," Yuri said through gritted teeth. The news reporter finally began talking, "As you can see the mysterious figure seems to be hovering at the center of the plant," she then gasps as the figure turns around and starts starring at the chopper. A large flash of the ruby's color blinds the camera as a stone boulder begins to materialize floating in between the two, "Ah what in the world?" the reporter says sounding frightened. Sayori gasps getting deeply worried and not wanting to see what happens next.

Jack smirks as he holds the stone bolder in the air, he then pushes his fingers forward sending it straight at the chopper at a high speed. The reporter screams as another figure jumps up in front of the stone, "THAT'S SONIC!" Natsuki exclaims worriedly as she sees the quick glimpse of the hedgehog in the footage. All the while Monika feels a tight knot forming in her stomach.

As the hedgehog jumped in between the stone and the helicopter he begins to spin rapidly and slams into the stone with an extreme amount of force sending it back to Jack. After doing so, he angles his bounce so he lands a good distance from the Ruby holder. He glances back seeing the chopper start flying away from the plant, "Thank goodness they decided to leave," he said as he turned his gaze to Jack, 'This could get dangerous.' Jack simply crosses his arms and sighs as the boulder comes ever so closer to him, as soon as it makes contact with him the stone explodes in the ruby's color all while fading out of existence. "Well, well, well if it isn't the little blue savior, but what's that I sense?" he closes his eyes, "I sense two beings emanating from that body." Nathan glances around the plant and looks back at Jack putting his arms against his hips, "and I spy many pillars on this plant, what are you doing here anyway?" Nathan asks curiously. "I see no reason to tell you, rodent!" Jack shouts as the Ruby quickly charges up. He shouts as the Ruby explodes its signature color and loud hum. Nathan shields his eyes and brazes himself, 'it's the paralysis attack,' he thinks to himself, but he quickly realizes that the attack didn't seem to affect his body. Jack not noticing charges at Nathan with an instant strike, Nathan quickly takes advantage of the situation by barely dodging Jack and giving him a kick in the back of the head. Jack goes flying across the plant but easily regains his composure, and seems completely uninjured by the kick.

Jack looks at Nathan in confusion, "how did you do that just now?" Nathan grins giving his best Jack impression, "I see no reason to tell you, rodent!" 'To be honest, I don't know either… could it be the Chaos Emerald?' Nathan thought to himself. Jack simply ignores his comment and has the Ruby blow up again to paralyze him, and yet again the attack seems to not affect him again. He charges quickly at Nathan again, this time he decides to jump over Jack, and hits him from above with a powerful spin attack. Jack hits the ground with a loud thud, bounces off the ground and again seems unfazed by the attack again, except this time Nathan quickly runs and jumps up to Jack giving him a spin attack before he can regain his composure again. The bounce off of Jack sends Nathan high up into the air allowing him to count the ten purple pillars before landing deep within the power plant.

Sonic's body then begins to glow as Nathan defuses from his body. Sonic gives him a look of confusion as if asking why he defused. "Sonic I think I know why he came here, I just remembered that the Phantom Ruby doesn't have infinite power," he says quickly in a whisper. "Those pillars are draining the power from the Plant in order to recharge the Phantom Ruby," Nathan says quietly looking around for Jack. "I have a plan to take him out, I'll go and destroy the towers with one of the Emeralds while you go and distract Jack," Sonic nods to Nathan's plan and hands him one of the 7 emeralds. "Okay, but remember you're distracting him, don't start attacking until all of the pillars are gone," Sonic nods and gives him a thumbs up in agreement and runs in the direction of where Jack was thrown to.

Nathan quickly runs to one of the nearby pillars, "uh… how do I destroy these exactly?" he said now sounding unsure with his plan. He notices that the pillar seems to be repelling against the emerald in his hand. Nathan then begins to press the emerald against the tower, the purple tower begins to slowly turn white from where he's holding the emerald. The color begins to spread throughout the entire tower, and begins to crack. After a while the cracks begin to glow, causing the entire tower to explode knocking Nathan down. He gets up and sees that the tower is now completely gone, "Okay! That's one down just nine more."

He glances around and looks at the emerald, "it'll take to long for me to run around searching for the towers… I have to use Chaos Control, it's the only way to pull this off before Sonic gets hurt." He clutches the emerald and closes his eyes remembering the quick view he got of the plant when he was in Sonic's body, he focuses on one of the pillars, and the emerald begins light up and consumes him in a light. The light vanishes, and Nathan is gone signifying that the technique was successful.

After agreeing to the plan Sonic began running in the direction he saw Jack fly, keeping his instincts high, he feels an uneasy feeling suddenly hit him. His right ear begins to twitch as he quickly spots a red blast heading straight for him. Sonic quickly jumps out of the way and sees Jack floating above him, Sonic sticks his tongue out while pulling down on his eye and starts running away from him. "Run all you want! I'm still going to squash you like a bug!" Jack said as he flew towards Sonic raining down more red blasts on the hedgehog. Sonic does his best to avoid the incoming blasts, but is eventually hit by one of them giving his vision a red tint. As he stands back up the tint disappears, and he notices that the walls around him begin to glow a deep color of red, and without warning spikes start jabbing out through the walls trying to stab at him. Sonic runs away again attempting to now dodge the blasts and wall spikes. He eventually looks up ahead, realizing that he's about to hit a dead end, "Give up now, you have nowhere to run!" Jack shouts as he extends his hand, pointing it at the wall up ahead. The incoming wall begins to slowly glow red, Sonic clenches his fists as he approaches the said wall. He weights his options and decides to jump into the incoming wall and begins to run up it. Giant spikes begin to pierce out of the wall while Sonic continues to run and shift his position in order to avoid getting hit.

After reaching a high enough distance Sonic jumps off the wall and does a spin attack to Jack. "You think I'm dumb enough to fall for the same move three times?" Jack shouts as he clenches his right fist and gives the hedgehog a powerful uppercut punch sending Sonic flying up. "TAKE THIS!" Jack shouts as he shoots a blast at the helpless hedgehog. Sonic sees the incoming blast and begins to curl up back into a ball again, spinning at an incredible rate. The blast then reaches Sonic, but just then he is covered by a white force field known as the insta-shield that ends up bouncing Jack's blast back at him at an even faster speed. Jack gets hit by the blast and is sent downward with the it, which explodes upon making contact with the floor. Meanwhile Sonic's white shield disappears as fast as it appeared, and he quickly pushes his body forward to descend and quickly reach the floor again.

Just before landing Sonic curls up again and begins to spin fast, allowing him to perform the drop dash and get out of the area quickly. Meanwhile the smoke from the reflected blast clears revealing an uninjured Jack with a confused look, "How did he do that?" he says, he quickly shakes his head and begins to fly towards Sonic's direction. The hedgehog had run off and was hiding behind one of the many metal pillars. He was panting after his narrow escape, he was waiting for Jack to go through the corridor in order to land a sneak attack on him. His ears then perked up and twitched as he heard the Ruby's hums get closer to him, he begins to run in place performing the super peel out technique, making a figure eight blur with his feet. Just as Jack gets into his range of sight he takes off and slams into him with a spin attack sending him into the wall. The attack was a success, allowing Sonic to land quickly with a drop dash and take off once again, but Jack ends up landing against his feet on the wall, allowing him to take off quickly in the hedgehog's direction.

Meanwhile Nathan had successfully blown up the eight towers, "Just two more to go," he said clutching his arm, he had gotten a large deep cut on it during one of the tower's explosions which shot a sharp wire at his arm. He hears a loud explosion and coming from the plant, "Sonic hold on just a bit longer," he said as he used chaos control again to get to the next pillar.

Meanwhile Sonic had jumped out of the way when Jack had tried flying into him, Jack was now flying backwards facing the hedgehog. Sonic had no other option but to continue to run in Jack's direction due to the walls behind him glowing red and spikes piercing out of them. The flying man then extended his hand and began raining down on the hedgehog with many blasts, Sonic was just narrowly avoiding getting hit at this point, Jack smirked as he pointed his opposite hand against the floor. The floor then began to glow red sending Sonic to panic he jumps out of fear and sees spikes head straight into the air. He avoids the large pillars and begins to roll down one of them gaining speed, he then jumps quickly attempting to hit Jack again. The man tightens his fist getting ready to uppercut the spinning hedgehog again, but as he does so the white shield envelops Sonic again and blocks the punch. While the uppercut didn't harm him, it did send Sonic high into the sky, using this to his advantage Sonic forces his body to go over the one of the walls, allowing him to enter a new corridor.

Sonic then runs down the corridor and sees Jack fly over the wall, he begins to move his feet faster and sees that the corridor leads straight to one of the purple towers. Sonic sees that there's only two more turns right next to the pillar and decides to take the one on the right. Upon doing so he quickly stops running and his face turns into one of horror as he realizes he's hit a dead end. He turns around quickly as his ears twitch with fear hearing the Ruby's sound behind him. He sees Jack standing next to the pillar he had passed. "Well it seems our game is up hedgehog, you know I'm going to miss not having you around," Jack says extending his arm towards him, "but I'm afraid you are too much of a threat to keep around, especially after you thwarted my other plans like controlling the doctor and that _human_ , but just for you I'll make sure you die quick and painless."

While Jack is saying this the wall behind Sonic glows red, and red wires extend over to the hedgehog grabbing his arms and pulling him back. Sonic begins to panic and starts running in the opposite direction trying to snap the red wires with his speed. "Stop resisting you've reached your end!" Jack shouts as he begins shooting more blasts at the hedgehog. Sonic avoids them barely and continues to fight against the red wires tugging at his arms. "Fine then suit yourself!" Jack shouts, "a long and painful death is fine with me," the Ruby begins to charge up power for a large powerful attack. "Your pathetic life is over…" he says calmly and coldly as he begins to count down the hedgehog's last seconds, "5… 4… 3… 2…"

Suddenly the Purple pillar by his side begins to glow, crack, and then explodes forcing Jack to shield himself from the explosion and not attack Sonic. "What?! YOU!" Jack shouts as he sees Nathan through the explosion's smoke. Suddenly a loud snapping sound is heard, Jack's eyes go wide as he turns back to the hedgehog who slams into him with a spin attack. This attack completely surpassed the strength of all his other attacks due to the amount of speed Sonic had built up to escape the wires. Jack is sent flying towards the other corridor and a loud crash is heard as he hits the metal wall.

"Sonic are you okay?!" Nathan shouts as he runs up to him. The hedgehog gives a shaky thumbs up, but clutches his extended arm. The tugging of the wires had left various cuts in his arms, letting a small amount of blood trickle from them. "Sonic c'mon let's fuse, I've taken care of all of the pillars," Nathan says as he extends his hand close to Sonic. He nods softly and takes Nathan's hand the emerald that he had begins to glow and consumes the two of them, putting Nathan within the hedgehog's body.

"Don't think you've won yet," Jack says calmly as he extends his arm towards the hedgehog. Nathan gets ready for Jack's attack and takes a defensive stance, but as soon as Jack begins to charge a blast the Ruby begins to dim and the charge in his hand disappears. "W-What?! I don't understand, why is the Ruby weak?" Jack says frantically starting to feel weak.

Nathan smirks, "because, when you were going around playing tag with Sonic, I went ahead and destroyed the pillars powering your Ruby," Nathan said as he wagged his index finger at Jack. "It seems you got careless and used to much power than what the remaining pillars could deliver huh?" Nathan told the man.

Jack clenches his teeth and begins to tighten his hands into fists of anger, to which Nathan grows a bigger smirk, "looks like I'm right aren't I?" he said growing cocky. "ITS OVER!" Nathan shouted as he charged at him. Just then Nathan saw Jack's angry expression turn into one of confidence, the Ruby then started glowing again, and the floor in front of the hedgehog, along with the walls, began turning red. Spikes pierced through them for the last time forming a wall between the two. Nathan charged at the wall and broke through the pillars with a spin attack, but when he broke into the other side he was greeted by a disappearing portal, and the spikes behind him began to fade.

Nathan defused from Sonic and scanned the area, "Looks like he retreated," he told the hedgehog. His hands then clenched into a fist, "Ugh! We had him, but I got to cocky and let him get away," Nathan said through gritted teeth. He led out a loud sigh and turned to Sonic, "well I guess there's no use sulking about it right?" he said calming down. Sonic gave him a nod in agreement. "But man that was intense! We really had him on the ropes!" Nathan started saying completely pumped with energy. "We made a pretty good team out there didn't we?" he said while extending his arm to Sonic for a high five to which the hedgehog returned. "Well we better get out of here," Nathan said as he heard sirens from outside of the power plant. "C'mon I learned how to use Chaos control, so I can get us back to Monika's instantly," Sonic nodded as he held on to Nathan's arm and was warped out of the plant.

 **Alright well this took me a full day to actually write out, hope you all enjoyed this fight between classic sonic and Jack.**


	9. Depression

A portal opened within the grid room and an entity was made visible as it got closer to entering the room. The entity's form began taking form as it took the form of Jack. Upon entering the room, the man stayed still floating in the air. He was panting, yet his body doesn't seem damaged at all, "… I-I actually made it back…" Jack said looking at the room. His face then contorts to one of pain as he clutches the Ruby which begins to fade to a dim glow. "Damn! I got way to careless out there… everything I worked for could've ended right there!" he shouts as he falls to the floor in pain and is unable to get back up.

"It's no use, I have to wait for the Ruby to regain its power," he said lying on his back. "I need to find a new power source, the plan won't work with this stamina problem," he says while weighting his options. He then remembers the moment he saw Nathan, he had blown up the last of his pillars and was clutching something in his hand. He smirks as he realizes what the kid was clutching, "A chaos emerald… could that be… could that be the reason why my paralysis attack didn't affect them…" he begins to think out loud, "I need to get my hand on one of those gemstones, with one of those I could use it to recharge the Ruby." He then clutches the Ruby in pain as he begins to smile at the thought of finally making Nathan pay for his interference.

 **Back at School**

Monika had failed to concentrate during the rest of her classes as she couldn't stop thinking of the Power Plant fiasco, after the reporter had been saved by Sonic they left the scene leaving her and the club members in suspense with what happened. After a while the power had returned to the school relieving a bit of her anxiety, but not enough for her to be fully at ease. When she had arrived at the club everyone else had already arrived minus Nathan who was supposed to show up, this only went and made her feel more anxious.

"Uh… d-did Nathan show up yet?" Monika asked in a shaky voice, everyone shook their head and said that they haven't seen him. She sighed as she sat down and took a seat by Sayori as they began to plan out the events for the festival, while pushing her anxiety away.

Ten minutes passed, and no one had entered through the door, "Uh… Monika?" Monika looked at Sayori, she had accidentally glanced at the door worriedly while not listening to Sayori. "Eh? I-I'm sorry I was just…" she was cut off by Sayori, "You're worried about Nathan aren't you Monika?" Monika quickly flinches as she lets a light blush, "I-Is it that obvious?" Sayori nods as she giggles, "ehehe it's been written all over your face since you came into the club," Monika blushed deeply at the response.

"Don't worry, Natsuki is also worried about them too," Sayori adds trying to cheer up her friend. "Eh? Really?" Monika questions, Sayori nods and explains how Natsuki has been constantly checking her phone for updates over the incident. "I'm pretty sure she's worried about Sonic, ehehe ever since they first met she's been treating him like if he were a pet of hers, I mean I couldn't blame her he is really adorable ehehe," she said with a warm smile. "Of course, Shay and Yuri have also been worried, Yuri has been taking frequent breaks while reading, which she rarely does, and Shay has been trying to comfort Natsuki." Monika smiles, being relieved that she's not the only one anxious over the whole situation.

Ten more minutes passed, and a knock was heard from the door. Instantly everyone stood up and went up to it, Monika approaches the door and opens it while everyone stands behind her. "Yo!" Nathan greets them in Shay's school uniform while wearing a gym bag. Everyone gasped at Nathan, who had many injuries on his face, and his right hand was a bright red like it had been burned. "Sorry! I would've gotten here sooner, but I didn't know where I could find anything for my injuries," he said trying to play it cool.

Monika gives Nathan a stern look as she puts her hands against her hips, "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING OUT THERE, YOU IDIOT!?" Nathan and all the other club members are taken aback by Monika's sudden outburst. "YOU HAD EVERYSINGLE ONE OF US WORRIED!" she yells towering over Nathan as he backs up while Monika gets closer, pointing a strict finger at him. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to worry you guys besides I'm fine, and c'mon I had to do somethi-" he gets cut off by Monika who begins to get visibly more annoyed. "ARE YOU BRAINDEAD? LOOK AT YOURSELF, YOU ARE DEFINETILY NOT FINE, YOU MUST'VE HIT YOURSELF ONE TO MANY TIMES IN THE HEAD OUT THERE IF YOU CALL THIS FINE!" she booms and begins to clench her teeth. Nathan begins to go quiet as his smile starts to fade. "AND THEN YOU JUST SHOW UP LATE! I TOLD YOU BE HERE BY 4:00 PM AND YOU'RE 20 MINUTES LATE, DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH YOU HAD US WORRYING?!" she says as she gasps softly at herself, and begins to go quiet.

She clutches her fists in frustration wanting to yell more at Nathan's recklessness, but she resists the urge to do so. "You really had me worried you idiot…" she says in a shaky voice looking down at the floor, "I thought something happened to you…" she adds sounding noticeably upset. Nathan says nothing but simply apologizes, "I'm sorry, I won't ever do something stupid like this again."

Monika clenches her fists at his apology, 'it's like he doesn't even care about his wellbeing,' she thinks as she clenches her teeth in frustration. She then feels a tear go down her cheek as she's looking down at the floor. "Ah- I-I'll be right back," Monika says shakily as she runs down the hallway avoiding eye contact with everyone. "She's kind of right, that was a really dangerous stunt you pulled back there, but I do want to ask, you were using that body merging technique weren't you?" Shay asks, Nathan simply nods. Natsuki begins to pout, "You're really stupid you could've gotten Sonic hurt back there you know," Natsuki says in an obvious tsundere tone, not to insult Nathan, but to try and fix the mood. "Ehehe, I-I mean sure it was dangerous, but you saved those people from the news channel, didn't you?" Sayori says also trying to fix the mood. Yuri then shyly chimes in, "Y-Yeah Sayori is right, if he hadn't played the hero the entire city would still be under a blackout," trying to defend Nathan. "Thanks, but she's right I am an idiot, I almost got us killed out there… and then I just tried to play it off like nothing happened… I… I deserve this," he says going quiet and taking all of Monika's insults personally. "W-well I mean Sayori and Yuri are right," Natsuki says, "I mean if you hadn't done anything we wouldn't even be allowed to stay after school with a black out," she says trying to avoid eye contact.

Monika then returned with a first aid kit at hand, "c'mon Nathan let me treat your wounds," Nathan simply nods as he enters the club room with everyone else. "Hold on Monika," Nathan says as he sets the gym bag he'd been carrying around down. He slides open the zipper and Sonic pops his head out of the bag. "Sonic!" Natsuki chimes cracking a cute smile, she then gasps as she sees the hedgehog with various cuts on his arm, "Oh my gosh," she says as she covers her mouth with her hands. She glances over at Nathan, "Uh… sorry, it's just… I had a stupid idea…" he says beginning to get more depressed. Natsuki simply shakes her head, "No its okay, I'm not mad, you two did what you had to," she says as she walks sonic over to Monika like a toddler, "I'll take care of Sonic, Monika, you take care of Nathan."

During the treatment of the wounds Monika felt awkward as Nathan refused to look at her nor talk to her, he simply stayed quiet the entire time. "Uh that should be all of them," she said treating the last of the wounds on his face and hand. Nathan finally speaks up "No there's one more," he says coldly as he lifts his right sleeve revealing a large deep cut. Monika gasps at the injury, she wants to say something, but she feels like she'll only make things worse if she does.

Meanwhile Shay, Yuri, and Sayori notice the awkward exchange between the two. "Hey Yuri, I think we might have to talk to him, he seems really depressed," Shay says while thinking of getting him to talk. As Yuri is about to respond Sayori cuts her off, "No you two, I'll talk to him," Sayori says with a serious look. Shay had been really caught off guard, Sayori is his childhood friend and he's never seen her act so seriously. "O-Okay if you're really sure go ahead," Shay tells her as he gets up to help Natsuki with Sonic's injury. "U-um S-Sayori? Are you sure you can handle this?" Yuri asks shyly, Sayori simply nods and tells her, "I think I might be able to help him, just leave it to me," Sayori says with a smile.

After the injuries had been treated Nathan got up and sat in the corner of the room, while Natsuki dragged Sonic and Shay to read Shay's next volume of Parfait Girls. Sayori gets up and enters the closet room, "Hey Nathan can you come give me a hand?" she asks, Nathan gets up reluctantly and heads over to Sayori. As soon as he enters the room she closes the door. "Hey Nathan, are you okay?" Sayori says suddenly out of nowhere. "W-what do you mean? I'm fine Sayori," Nathan replies throwing a fake smile. "No, you're not, you're bottling up your feelings Nathan, you can tell me, I promise I won't tell anyone," Sayori says while Nathan shakes his head. "It's really nothing Sayori I'm telling you I'm fi-" Sayori interrupts Nathan by flicking his forehead, sort of how Shay would do when she would get lost in her thoughts. "Nathan, you can't lie to me, because I know what you're feeling right now, you're blaming yourself for everything that's going on, aren't you?"

Nathan sighs loudly, "… You promise you won't tell?" Sayori nods as she raises her pinky to him, "I won't, pinky promise?" Nathan lifts his hand and shakes his pinky with her. "Well… the thing is… I get easily depressed whenever I'm yelled at by anyone, I just completely lose my emotions and feel hurt, I feel like I'm just a bother sometimes…" he goes quiet. "It's okay, I understand," Sayori says to ease Nathan from any explanations, "I know how you feel, because I used to feel like that every day, like I was just a bother to everyone and that the world would be better off without me." Sayori begins to get shaky, "or… at least that's how I was in another time right?" Nathan opens his mouth, he waits a while before saying something, "Yeah…" Nathan nodded softly. "The reason why I'm not like that now is because I've been serious with my feelings this time, or at least I have been after Monika told us what happened in the last time," she tells Nathan. Sayori smiles, "But you know, you shouldn't beat yourself for what you did back there, I mean you saved someone's life out there, so you did good."

"Yeah but… Monika is right… I am an idiot, I almost got Sonic killed back there, and it was all because I was ignorant and stupid," Sayori crosses her arms in disapproval. "Nathan, you shouldn't beat yourself over what could've happen, but instead worry of what's going on right now," she says while also adding, "and you shouldn't worry about Monika, she didn't actually mean any of the insults she was throwing at you." Nathan looks up at her, "Eh? What do you mean?" Sayori smiles again, "ehehe she's been worried about you all day, especially when you didn't arrive here on time." Sayori said as Nathan seemed to have stopped frowning, "ehehe, the truth is I think she has a-" she stops herself before she finishes her sentence while Nathan looks at her questionably. "ahhh… BIG HEART!" Sayori says saving herself, "I'm pretty sure that its because she has a big heart, and can't help but worry about her friends, ehehehe." Nathan feels that she wasn't planning on saying that originally, but decides not to press further. He finally cracks a small smile, "Thanks Sayori I feel better already," making his smile more genuine. Sayori smiles and nods her head, "Okay, lets go back," she says as she grabs a box of colors and makes her way to the door, "c'mon let's go."

As the two exited the closet, Shay, Natsuki, and Sonic were huddled up reading another volume of Parfait Girls. Natsuki held Sonic in her lap like a doll while the hedgehog looked at the manga that Shay was holding in awe. Natsuki had a smile the entire time, "ehehehe I've never seen her so happy," Sayori says as she peeked a look in their direction, 'She's right, Natsuki has never been happy like this before,' Nathan thought to himself as a small smile formed on his face.

After a while Monika announces the group to gather up, "Okay guys it's time to start talking about the festival." Everyone gathers up to the front of the room and begin discussing the preparations, but Nathan quickly goes and interjects when they begin planning the groups, "Say why don't we meet up in one place and work there together?" Sayori smiles as she begins to add, "Yeah let's all meet up at Shay's house, it could be fun all of us hanging out," Shay flinches at the idea. "W-Wait! Hold on why my house specifically?" Shay retorts while glaring at Sayori. "Eh? Why not? Your house is closer to the nearest store Shay, so its technically the best place we can work at if we need any extra materials." Shay sighs as he agrees since he can't contest against her logic. "Well that settles that," Monika says with a smile, "well the club is dismissed, I'll make a group chat, so we can decide a time later," everyone nods.

Before anyone moves Nathan speaks up again, "Actually… I need to tell you guys something that happened during the Power Plant fiasco," he said while everyone turned to listen to him. He explained to everyone how the chaos emeralds were able to somehow protect him and Sonic from Jack's paralysis attack. "I'm not sure why we weren't affected by that attack, but I'd say it's probably because the emeralds seem to repel the Phantom Ruby's power… or at least the weak attacks it seems," Nathan says as his theory. "So, what about it?" Natsuki asks the boy, "Well me and Sonic talked about it… well I talked to him about it while he responded, and we decided that it's probably best if we all hold on to one emerald, I mean there are seven of us and seven emeralds," Nathan says as Sonic nods in agreement.

As Sonic goes around giving everyone an emerald Nathan makes sure to tell everyone to take good care of the gemstones, and that they should always have it on them, everyone agrees to Nathan's warning as they receive the emeralds. Sonic decides to give everyone an emerald based of their colors, Yuri is given the purple one, Sayori the light blue one, Monika the green one, Natsuki the bright red pink colored one, Shay the grey one, Nathan the yellow one. This leaves Sonic with the Dark blue emerald as he gives Nathan a thumbs up to say that he's done with the distribution.

Everyone is then allowed to leave, and begin to pack up. Natsuki sees that Yuri is leaving to clean the tea set she had used during her reading time. "Let me help you with that Yuri," Natsuki says with a smile, "Uh? Y-Yeah sure," she replies as she goes with Natsuki to the nearest sink to wash the tea set. "Huh, looks like Natsuki has really opened up hasn't she Shay," Nathan tells his friend, "Yeah I'm really happy she can finally express herself freely," Shay replies with a warm smile. Nathan begins to grin mischievously "You better watch out though, she's been really taking a liking to Sonic too, you could have some competition for her affection," Nathan tells him while jabbing at him lightly with his elbow. "Man Shut Up!" Shay says chuckling as he gives Nathan a light push.

Yuri had escorted Natsuki to one of the nearby Science labs, "We can use the sinks here to wash the tea set," Natsuki nods as she opens the door and lets herself in. Yuri begins to walk towards the room, but it suddenly slams without warning scaring Yuri causing her to drop the tea set, and it shatters as it hits the floor. Natsuki is then heard screaming from the other side of the door, "N-Natsuki are you okay!?" Yuri shouts as she tries to get the door open, but it doesn't move no matter how hard she tugs at it.

When the door behind Natsuki closed her eyes went wide as she screamed with fear at the sight of her father, Jack, standing there looking out the window, "I've been waiting for you…" Jack said calmly. "N-No… WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Jack turns to the scared girl as he begins to walk up to her slowly, "Now, Now, that's no way to treat your savior," Natsuki clenches her teeth at the mans statement. "SAVIOUR!? You've made my life a living hell! How the hell are you a savior?!" Natsuki shouts shakily at her father. "You dare raise your voice on me you brat?" He said raising his voice calmly which creeped Natsuki out. It's almost as if he was a completely different man, she remembered how Nathan mentioned that the Phantom Ruby would completely change a person under its control, but keep some of their characteristics. 'That must be what's going on,' she thought to herself in an attempt of trying to stay calm. "W-What do you want from me?" Jack smiled as he glanced at the door behind Natsuki, he could see Yuri desperately trying to open the door, he smirked as he raised his index finger in front of him. A strong amount of dark concentrated energy began building up at the tip of his finger, "W-What is t-that?!" said Natsuki shakily as she helplessly watched. "This is null space… or at least this world's interpretation of it," he said as the black orb floated slowly in between the two. It stood there for a bit before eventually expanding and sucking in everything within the room. Natsuki screamed as she held onto the door, "YURI HELP ME!" she shouted as she held onto the door, all the while Jack was completely unfaced by the black hole's pull.

"I CAN'T OPEN THE DOOR! NATSUKI HOLD ON I'LL GET SOME HELP!" Yuri shouted, but before she could take off Natsuki lost her grip she let out a bloodcurdling scream and was sucked into the black hole. "NOOOOO!" Yuri shouted as the screams of her friend began drowning in silence. Jack smirked as he made his way into the portal, but before entering he gave Yuri a sadistic smile, "Don't worry, I'll take good care of her," he then turned to the black hole and entered it. The black hole then shrunk and disappeared leaving Yuri alone in the hallway. "N-Natsuki…" she told herself quietly as she had her hand in the door. "I'm sorry… I failed you," she fell to her knees as she began to quietly sob into her hands "I'm really sorry!"

 **What does Jack want from Natsuki? What kind of plan does he even have anyway? Will Sonic and the others be able to help their kidnapped friends? WHO KNOWS CAUSE I QUIT… I'm kidding I'm kidding XD.**


	10. Null Space SOS Mission

**Alright new chapter, here it is, though I do have one question, but I'll save it for the end of the chapter cause spoilers. Also, quick reminder, because I don't remember this if I ever made this clear. Whenever these quotation marks are used '' they are used to represent a character's thoughts**

Sonic's ears twitched as the sound of shattering glass coming from the hall. He was still in the club room with everyone else who had decided to wait up for Natsuki and Yuri. Though only Sonic had heard the shattering of glass, causing the hedgehog to feel unsettled. His face quickly changed to a serious expression as he started tugging at Nathan. "What's up Sonic? Something the matter?" Nathan asked, the hedgehog then began doing short hops with a panicked expression as he pointed at the club door. "Does he need to go to the restroom?" Shay asked, Sonic pouted and put his hands to his hips like Natsuki giving him a glare. Nathan shook his head, "No, he looks worried about something," Monika and Sayori saw the commotion going on and walked up to them. "Say is everything alright here?" Monika asked as he saw the hedgehog hopping in desperation while pointing at the club door. "Eh? You guys I think he's trying to say that something happened outside," Sayori said as she inspected the hedgehog's body language.

Sonic began nodding furiously at Sayori's statement, he quickly grabbed Nathan's arm and ran him to the club door. He quickly pointed to the handle, signaling Nathan to open the door for him. As Nathan did so Sonic quickly grabbed Nathan's arm again and pulled him down the hallway with a steady jog. "Eh? I wonder what's got him so worked up," Sayori asked in wonder. Monika stared off in the direction they went, "I'm not sure, but something tells me we have to go it could be bad," she turned to her clubmates, who nodded in agreement to her response. They then quickly ran off in the direction Sonic took Nathan in, it didn't take long for them to catch up to the hedgehog.

The group began running down the hall as they heard Yuri scream, "NATSUKI!" the group began quickening their pace as they heard their friend scream. When they turned the corner everyone saw Yuri, on her knees while sobbing into her hands, "Y-Yuri?! What happened here?" Monika asked as she and Sayori knelt to comfort her peer. "I'm sorry…" she said in between sobs, "I couldn't save her… Jack came… and he took Natsuki!" Sonic and Shay both clenched their teeth and fists at Yuri's statement.

Shay turned to Nathan, "We have to save her!" he said with a demanding voice while Sonic nodded in agreement. "I agree but we don't even know where he went to," Nathan said, Sonic looked down with a sad expression to his statement while Shay went silent. Shay turned to the wall and punched it in frustration as he looked down in disappointment. Yuri saw this and felt horrible, she managed to stop sobbing to try and speak, "N-Null Space," she said quietly. Everyone turned to Yuri, "What was that Yuri?" Sayori asked while comforting her friend. It took Yuri a while to speak again as she tried to regain her composure, "J-Jack, he said he was taking her to Null Space," she said in a shaky voice. "He made a mini Black Hole inside the room and took Natsuki with him."

"What's a Null Space?" Monika asked out loud while pondering the question. Nathan spoke up, "Null Space is a closed off space where nothing exists," everyone turned to him as he pondered on the subject. "You know what Null Space is?" Shay asked as hope began gleaming in his eyes. Nathan nodded, "Yeah, the game where the Phantom Ruby was supposed to end up in took the Sonic of that game into Null Space, it's like a grid like room…" he quickly paused at this thought. "Monika!" he quickly shouted as the girl turned to him, "NULL SPACE! It's that room where you go to tamper with the files, you know, the one where we all first met!" Nathan turned to Shay, "I bet that's where Jack took Natsuki!" he said quickly. "Monika can you take us there?" Nathan asked her, Monika then slowly gave him a glare she opened her mouth to say something but stopped herself she took a deep breath and exhaled in order to calm herself. "Nathan, look at yourself, you're completely injured, but I understand we do need to save Natsuki…" she said calmly, "but jumping in head first after the one that left you in this condition probably won't be the best idea, so before we do go after them we have to at least come up with a plan." Nathan nodded as he took Monika's statement into consideration, "You're right, we should come with a plan," he said this as he crossed his arm and began thinking of a scheme to save Natsuki.

 **In Null Space**

Natsuki dropped to the floor as the black hole spat her into the grid room. She got up and panicked as she reached into the pocket of her school uniform, she calmed down as she felt the emerald that Sonic gave her in her pocket. 'Thank god, I was afraid I dropped it,' she pulled her hand out of her pocket as she left the emerald in her pocket. The black hole then spat out Jack who floated swiftly out of the portal, "There, now we can continue our conversation without any eavesdroppers." Natsuki felt helpless, she was alone with the man who has mercilessly beat her for years, she was alone in a void were no one would ever hear her scream, alone in a world were no one could help her. "W-What do you want from me?" she said in a shaky voice while trying to keep her fear from showing. Jack smiled at her _daughter_ "What? Can't a father come visit his own daughter?" he said with sarcastically as he scoffed at the idea, "To be honest I don't want nothing from you, what I want is one of the Chaos Emeralds," Natsuki's eyes went wide as he said this. 'N-No way, there's no way he knows that Nathan gave us all an emerald,' she thought to herself while looking at her father, "W-What does this have to do with me? I don't have any emeralds with me if anything Nathan or Sonic have them," she said trying to lie to keep her emerald safe.

Jack grinned while Natsuki felt a shiver go down her spine, "I know," it seemed he bought into Natsuki's lie, "which is why I brought you here, that fool, and your friends will desperately try to save you, and I'm sure they'll be willing to give up an emerald in return for your safety," he said with a sadistic smile, Natsuki felt a knot in her stomach at his plan. He then slowly walked up to her as he stared her down and grinned as he clenched his fists. Natsuki closed her eyes in fear while throwing her arms up to cover her face. She was all to familiar with this kind of confrontation from her father. Jack finally spoke up, "That being said, just because I'll use you to bribe your friends, doesn't mean I can't use you to release some pent up aggression," her fears were confirmed as Jack sent a clenched fist into her stomach.

Natsuki leaned forward to soothe the pain from Jack's blow. Jack smirked as he slammed a fist down hard on Natsuki's back causing her to fall on the floor in pain. He then proceeded to kick her ribs while he laughed amidst Natsuki's screams of agony. "Man! You have no idea how much I've missed doing this," he said as Natsuki coughed up blood. He then reached down tugged at her hair while pushing her head down. Natsuki screamed louder as she felt hairs being pulled out from her scalp, Jack stopped and then stood up. "I won't lie I could've killed you if I wanted to a long time ago, but I would just miss having my little punching bag if I did," he said as he kicked her so that her back was on the floor. He placed his right foot on her stomach, and began applying pressure against it slowly, Natsuki had finally broken her composure and felt tears trickling down her cheeks as she saw her father. 'N-No not this,' she thought to herself in fear, 'please anything but thi-' her thoughts were interrupted as a queasy feeling overcame her stomach her eyes went wide as she put her hands against her mouth.

Jack smirked as he saw the expression on Natsuki's face he kicked her hard again so that she rolled again leaving her stomach against the floor. At that point Natsuki vomited all over the floor coughing up even more blood in the process, "Look at you, you disgusting brat, you went and puked all over my floor, now your responsible for cleaning it up!" he said as he lifted his foot again and placed it against the back of her head. He then pushed Natsuki's head against the floor, forcing her face into her own vomit. He then proceeded to move her head along the dirty floor, Natsuki felt really grossed out, but its not like she could do anything about the situation. She was alone in a place with no exit, and she had no chance of beating a man who was twice her own size and had a Ruby with immense power.

After Jack had enough he kicked Natsuki one last time on her ribs causing her to roll again. The emerald she had tucked in her school uniform's jacket fell out, she quickly covered it with her hands and curled into a ball in order to hide it. Jack took notice of the emerald's quick glow and gave the girl a sadistic smile, "Natsuki! I'm so proud of you my daughter, you've gone forth and already tricked the kid into giving you an emerald?" Jack said sarcastically, Natsuki's eyes widened, she felt like she just betrayed her friends, "now, why don't you be a good child and hand it over?" He said as he stepped up to Natsuki extending his hand. "N-NO! I WON'T GIVE IT TO YOU!" she shouted with tears.

Jack scoffed at her resistance, "Please spare me your wails, you're acting just like time when I told you to get rid of those childish books you get." Jack sighed at the girl who was wailing in pain "Well I've had enough of this, but I'm not about to put up with your shouting," he said as he raised his hand at the pink haired girl. Red wires began coming from the Phantom Ruby as they began wrapping around Natsuki's throat. She was lifted off her feet as she was being choked by the wires, while she still had the emerald grasped in her hand. She desperately began to tug at the wires with her free hand while gasping for air. "I just need you to hush for a while, honestly I wouldn't have to do this if you were a good girl, stayed quiet, and give me the emerald," he said sarcastically while wagging his index finger at her as if lecturing her.

Natsuki tugged and tugged at the strings but it didn't help at all, she felt her longs burn begging for air. Her grip on the emerald loosened, 'No… Sonic, Nathan I'm sorry…' the emerald then slipped off her hand. Jack saw the emerald fall and roll to his feet, he smirked as he picked up the gemstone. She felt horrible, the emerald was now free for her father to get, and she couldn't do anything to stop him. Her vision began to get fuzzy as she was starting to lose consciousness 'And Shay… I never got to say…' tears began flowing down her cheeks 'N-No I will tell you!' She placed her hands against the wires once more and tugged at them again.

Before Natsuki passed out a bright light glowed and spread throughout the grid room and it revealed two figures, Shay and Sonic. "NATSUKI!" Shay shouted in horror at the sight of the bruised girl being choked. "Eh? Who's there?" Jack shouted as he turned to the two. Sonic quickly sprinted avoiding Jack's gaze by running in the opposite direction of where Jack turned his head. Once he was starting to get close to Natsuki he performed an areal spin attack and cut the red wires. Natsuki dropped to the floor and grasped her neck while gasping the sweet air she was deprived off.

Jack's gaze then switched from Shay to Sonic, "You?!" he paused, but a smile began to form, "Well, well, well, if it isn't the rodent, it's a shame you came all this way for nothing," he said as he displayed the bright red Chaos Emerald in his hand. Sonic's eyes widened as he saw the gemstone, "I'm s-sorry Sonic," Natsuki said in between her sobs. "Don't worry about it," a whisper came from the hedgehog's body, "Huh?" Natsuki said confusingly, 'That sounded like Nathan.' Sonic then turned to her and placed his index finger to his mouth, in order to tell her to keep what she just heard under wraps.

The hedgehog then took off to Jack and attempted to fight him off while Shay made his way to Natsuki. Jack began shooting multiple blasts at Sonic while the hedgehog avoided the attacks and stayed on the defense, 'Darn! He got Natsuki's emerald, we can't just leave it with him,' Nathan thought to himself. Sonic then quickly zoomed at Jack with a spin attack, and as he was about to hit him Jack moved quickly out of the way. Sonic zoomed past him and came to halt as he turned back at Jack. "You know there's no point in trying to fight me rat, if our previous battle shows anything it's that you can't beat me, not with this emerald giving me unlimited power," he said as the gemstone began to glow and transfer energy into his body and visibly travel to the Ruby allowing for it to glow brighter.

Meanwhile Shay had gotten to Natsuki, he knelt to her level to help her up. "Nats c'mon we're here to sav-" he was cut off by Natsuki who quickly embraced him and was shaking with fear. He felt the vomit that was on her uniform on him, but he didn't care, he didn't care one bit he was just glad that she was okay. The pink haired girl sobbed uncontrollably as she embraced Shay, "I'm Sorry, I let him take the emerald, I'm really sorry." Shay simply embraced her back and attempted to comfort her, "It's okay, everything's going to be okay, cause we're here."

Jack begun blasting at Sonic recklessly no longer being cautious with his attacks. He then lifted his opposite hand causing the floor around Sonic to glow red as spikes began piercing outwards in the hedgehog's direction. The hedgehog began speeding up attempting to avoid any possible attacks. 'There's not much I can do, his attacks won't let up, there's no way I can take that emerald back is there?' Sonic began making his way back to Jack, attempting to get closer to him. 'It's no use, for now I'll have to focus on the plan, I've only got 5 more seconds, so I better make this count,' he thought as he performed a spin attack at Jack again. "Again, with that?! You've got to be kidding me I won't get hit by that!" Jack shouted as he avoided the attack again. 'NOW!' just then Sonic's body began to glow enveloping the entire room, and Nathan zapped himself out into the direction of Jack. Jack was caught off guard as Nathan clenched his fist and punched the man across the face. While the hit did land it didn't seem to actually affect him, he simply smirked as he gave Nathan a similar punch to his face.

While he was distracted Sonic had been charging a super peel out, once Jack had punched Nathan Sonic took off and performed a spin attack, slamming into the man's back and pushing him away. Sonic landed by Nathan's side, who got up while rubbing a new bruise on his face "Dang! I was hoping that would drop the emerald from his hand." He then quickly fused back with Sonic filling the room with another glow. "Ridiculous!" Jack shouted, "to think I actually got hit by you," he scoffed at the idea. "I'll destroy you idiots, and reach even greater heights with this emerald," meanwhile the emerald had continued to give power to the Phantom Ruby. "I feel so much more stronger than what I did before, it's almost as if I've surpassed the previous limitations that the Phantom Ruby had." He then extended his arms outward as he grinned, "I feel like I could take the whole world on effortlessly," various energy balls then formed around Jack, he pointed his arms towards the hedgehog and the blasts quickly took off in his direction. Nathan quickly took off and began avoiding the blasts again, except this time there were far too many to avoid at once, and they're explosions were far larger than they were before. It didn't take long for him to get hit by one of the many blasts. The explosion caused by the blast sent him flying across the grid room, luckily though he was able to land on his feet on the center of the room.

Nathan turned to Natsuki and Shay and was relieved to see three more figures with them. It was Monika, Yuri and Sayori, "all right, it seems the plan worked, now they just have to get them out of here," Nathan told himself as he saw Jack approach him. "Hm? Well it seems you've sneaked some more rats in, here haven't you?"

 **Flashback**

Shay and the others began thinking of a plan to save Natsuki, "Okay, how about this? So, me and Sonic will enter Null Space first," Nathan told the group while rubbing his chin. "I'm going with you too," Shay added, "and I'm not taking no for an answer!" Nathan nodded agreeing to take Shay with him. "Okay, so we'll use Chaos Control to enter Null Space," Nathan said as he began pointing to Monika, "I'll distract Jack, and either fuse or defuse from Sonic's body so the room is completely blinded with bright light, I'll do it after a full minute of leaving here, got it?" the girls nodded, "meanwhile Shay will go and get Natsuki, and once a minute passes you girls will enter Null Space through Monika's method so that you can be covered by the light, that way you'll be undetected by Jack and be able to leave with Natsuki while me and Sonic keep him distracted," Nathan said repeating the plan. "Okay, but hold on," Monika said, "you should go in already fused with Sonic, that way you can diffuse in an attempt to catch him off guard," Nathan nodded as he fused with Sonic and began to get ready to go to Null Space.

"U-Um h-hold on," Yuri quickly said, "Can you even use Chaos Control to enter Null Space?" Yuri asked, "Yeah, and can you even use it while being fused?" Sayori added. Nathan shrugged, "To be honest I don't know, but the plan goes through in both ends whether we arrive there or not, got it?" everyone nodded. "O-One more question if I may," Yuri asked shyly, "don't you think it's best to instead to stay unfused since Sonic is more accustomed to his speed and can therefor react more consistently?" Nathan put his hands to his hips as he imitated Natsuki, "Eh? Are you calling me slow, is that it?" Nathan said jokingly. Yuri quickly put her hands in front of her and turned away, "N-No I-I didn't mean t-to-" Nathan chuckled at her reaction, "Don't worry about it Yuri, though I did ask Sonic the same question, and apparently when we're fused our reaction time and fighting capabilities are also fused, allowing us to be far more capable when fused." Nathan then looked around, "Any more questions?" he asked as no one responded. Nathan nodded as he turned to Sonic and fused with him. "Then let's go Shay," Shay took hold of the hedgehog, Nathan then closed his eyes and began concentrating on the room known as Null Space. It took him about 20 seconds to finally fully visualize the location, he then opened his eyes and quickly shouted, "Chaos Control," the gem quickly began to glow, enveloping the hallway, and when the glow faded him, and Nathan were gone. "Okay," Sayori said as she tapped her phone setting off a stopwatch, "One minute and we're out."

 **Present**

Jack saw that Shay and the girls were helping Natsuki, he simply put his arms out again as various energy balls formed around him and began flying towards the group. Nathan quickly took off and jumped in front of the blasts, he then began spinning rapidly and performed the insta-shield, reflecting the blasts in opposite directions. "YOURE FIGHTING ME!" Nathan shouted angrily, "YOU'RE NOT GOING TO HURT THEM!" Jack simply sighed and closed his eyes, as if he were trying to concentrate on something, he then extended an arm in Nathan's direction. Various blasts began forming around Jack and they were flung in the direction of Nathan and the group. Nathan clenched his teeth as he quickly jumped at the nearest blast and deflected it with the insta-shield. He angled the blast so that it collided with the second most nearest one, causing the two to explode in impact, luckily the explosion ended up setting off all the other blasts as they collided into each other's explosions.

Sonic's body began to glow as Nathan defused from the hedgehog, "Sonic I'm going to check on them, you go and keep those blasts off us, and if you can try and take the emerald from him do so, okay?" Sonic nodded as he jumped at another horde of blasts, while Nathan went to check on the group.

"Monika what's taking so long, you should've warped by now!" Nathan shouted frantically. Monika, who had been trying to warp everyone back to school opened her eyes while shaking her head. "I-I don't understand Nathan, I'm trying but I can't warp us out of here," she said worriedly. "That's because the new and improved power of the Phantom Ruby has allowed me to tie up… or should I say cut any ties that you had to the files of the game," everyone turned to Jack who had finally opened his eyes. "Dang it!" Nathan shouted clenching his fists, "I could use chaos control, but… Sonic would have to distract him for me, so I can concentrate, but if we miss time it we could end up leaving him here by accident."

Jack smiled at the groups helpless expression, the emerald in his hand began glowing even more as even more energy started visibly transferring from his own arm and going into the Phantom Ruby. Sonic's fists clenched as he charged at Jack, who extended his arms outward as various blasts started raining down in Sonic' direction. The hedgehog jumped at the first blast and reflected it again with the insta-shield so that it could hit the next blast in order to set up a chain reaction of explosions again. Sonic then bursted out of the smoke at an incredible speed as he charged at Jack with a spin attack. Jack quickly reacted by sending a punch at the hedgehog Sonic quickly went and used the insta-shield again. This allowed him to block the punch and get pushed back in the opposite direction, except Jack was able to quickly grab hold of Sonic's leg before he could gain any distance.

Jack jumped up and began to spin Sonic around in the air, he eventually flung him back to the ground making him crash head first against the floor with a loud thud. Sonic slowly got up while clenching his head in pain, just then the Ruby exploded with its signature color and sound zooming making Jack zoom in front of Sonic. He placed his palm in front of the hedgehog and blasted him, sending him flying and crashing next to the group. "Sonic!" Sayori and Natsuki shouted worriedly. Sayori helped the struggling hedgehog up, but he couldn't fight anymore he was completely tired out with the injuries from his current and last fight.

Nathan clenched his fist as he thought of his options, 'If I quickly focus on one location I could get us out of here, but… I don't think he'll let us get away again.' Everyone was silent starring at Jack, the man in control of their predicament. "Honestly you all should've just left that brat alone," Jack said as he pointed to Natsuki, "none of you would've been here if it wasn't for her, I honestly have no need for any of you except for the _real_ human, the boy, and my daughter," he said as he pointed his hand in their direction. "I'll do you all a solid and kill the unneeded fools," he said as a blast began charging up in his hand. Just then the emerald began glowing even brighter. "Eh?" Jack said focusing his attention on the emerald, "well looks like the gemstone is about to break my limits again, and allow me to reach even greater heights." Jack began laughing loudly as the Chaos Emerald glowed brighter and brighter, "You will all witness the power of a god with no limi-" his words were cut off as a loud cracking sound filled the room.

Jack shouted in pain as he clenched his elbow, everyone saw that white cracks started forming from Jack's hand to his elbow. The Chaos Emerald began glowing even brighter which blinded everyone temporarily during that time the cracking sound continued again as Jack's screaming got louder. When everyone regained their sight, they noticed that Jack had even more cracks now extending to his shoulder. At this point Jack had let go of the emerald, realizing that the gemstone was responsible for his body's pain. The Phantom Ruby in Jack's chest then began shaking uncontrollably while emitting white pixels, a loud humming sound was heard while a portal behind Jack was opened, sucking him into it forcefully against his will. The portal closed slowly, drowning his screams in the process. Luckily for everyone though the portal only sucked Jack, leaving the emerald he had snatched on the floor and back with its original owner Sonic.

 **Okay so end of chapter, so now the question I have is of the section with Natsuki and her dad, does that fall under the rated T section? Or should I bump up the age rating? I'm honestly not sure since I don't typically write fics.**


	11. The Origin of the Ruby Holder

**Okay so this is my last chapter until next year, so I hope you guys enjoy this and happy New Years.**

Everyone was in awe after the Phantom Ruby had forcefully warped Jack out of Null Space. "W-What just happened?" Sayori asked out loud as she glanced around the grid room frantically to make sure Jack was truly gone. "I'm not sure, his arm cracked like those pillars back at the Power Plant," Nathan said as he crossed his arms to think, "What do you mean?" Yuri asked. "Well, in the Power Plant Jack had set up pillars made out of the Phantom Ruby's energy in order to drain power from the Plant," Nathan explained to the group, "and I found out that the Chaos Emeralds seemed to repel the energy of the Phantom Ruby by overflowing the tower with the Emerald's energy, and after a while the entire tower began cracking which led to it exploding." Yuri placed her finger on her chin, "So based off that Jack must've been going through the same thing," she said with a serious tone, "the Emerald must've overfed the Ruby with energy, and since Jack's body is filled with the Ruby's energy it must've started cracking his own body in an attempt to release some of the Emerald's energy and save the Ruby, he must've noticed that the Emerald was the one behind this which is why he threw the Emerald in order to avoid his own death, and the Ruby must've forcefully pulled him out of here in order to save itself from anymore internal damage."

Everyone stared at Yuri in awe, no one had ever heard her talk so confidently for so long before. Yuri noticed everyone staring at her and quickly got flustered, "A-Ah I-I'm S-Sorry I didn't m-mean to r-ramble," she said while turning away embarrassed. "N-No, you're right Yuri, that's exactly what happened," Nathan said trying to make her feel better. "Besides, your explanation was better than anything I could come up with," he said giving her a smile, Yuri smiled shyly at Nathan's compliment, "T-Thank you Nathan…" she said quietly.

"That being said though," Nathan said as he turned to the group, "now's our chance to go and tamper with the files, who knows we could be able to stop this mess," Nathan explained to the group. "I thought you said that you and Monika lost your privileges to tamper with the files?" Sayori asked him. Monika nodded to Sayori's question as she began to elaborate "Yes me and Nathan can't change the files, but anyone who shares the same file directory to Jack should be able to tamper the files," she turned to Natsuki as she said this, "and all of the information about Jack is stored within Natsuki's file, meaning that Natsuki should have the ability to tamper with the files too."

"But Monika," Natsuki said as Shay helped her up, "I don't know the first thing of how to tamper with the game's files." Monika smiled as she raised her index finger in her usual manner, "Don't worry about that, me and Nathan will guide you through it," Nathan nodded in agreement. "O-Okay, I'll try to see what I can do," Natsuki said as she stood up.

Monika walked the group over to the center of the grid room while they waited for Sayori and Sonic to pick up the dropped Emerald, "Okay Natsuki, so what you want to do is extend your arm like this," Monika said as she extended her arm, Natsuki followed through and mimicked her, "Now, what you want to do next is say, _Retrieve Character files_." Natsuki complied and said the command, a window then appeared in front of her displaying the character files. "OH?! It actually worked!" Nathan said in awe, "this is great! Hey, do you think we might be able to remove the Phantom Ruby from here?" Monika shrugged but was just as eager as Nathan at the sight of the window. Nathan then pointed at the window screen telling Natsuki to click on it, "That should take us to the root of the game, and if I remember correctly the Phantom Ruby was added on the root inside of a file called item," Nathan said as Natsuki brought up the root of the game.

Natsuki then tapped on the item folder like Nathan had asked for and was shown a single file, "There it is the Phantom Ruby file," Monika said calmly, "try deleting it Natsuki." Monika told Natsuki the steps on how to erase the file, she then began clicking on the file and attempted to delete it. A message was returned giving the prompt 'file can't be removed!' Nathan shook his head, "figures, it did the same thing when I tried to delete it from my world."

"I wonder…" Nathan began thinking deeply, "say Monika, is there any way to open the file?" he said as he turned to her. "Yeah, though I don't really understand most of the programming language," Monika replied, she then proceeded to instruct Natsuki on how to open the Phantom Ruby file. A new window opened up displaying various coding commands.

The group inspected the code for a while until Shay spoke up, "I… don't understand this, do you guys do?" Shay said as he scratched his head. Sayori, Yuri, and Natsuki shook their head while Sonic simply looked at the screen in wonder. "What about you Monika?" Shay asked the president, who stared at the code. She didn't want to admit that she didn't understand the code, but her facial expression showed everyone that she too was just as lost as them.

"It says here that the file seems to be accessing information from Natsuki's file, more specifically assets from her file," everyone turned to Nathan, "huh? You understand this mumbo jumbo?" Natsuki asked with an impressed tone. "Kind of but not all of it, the truth is I've taken a couple of programming classes, and some of the commands do look familiar," Nathan explained to the group. "So what assets are being used?" Yuri asked curiously, "Eh? Oh right, so according to this its accessing two sets of information, one by the name of Jack and the other under the name _Libitina_ ," Nathan says while studying the code. Yuri seems to slightly flinch at the mention of Libitina. "What's wrong Yuri? You just fidgeted slightly," Sayori asks causing Yuri to get flustered. "Ah- N-No it's nothing, just my imagination that's it," Yuri quickly says trying to not get much attention.

Meanwhile Nathan hadn't been paying much attention to Yuri's behavior, but was instead analyzing the code to find a way to remove the connections to the Phantom file. "Say Natsuki, go back to the character files and open your file," he asks, which Natsuki complies and does as she's told. Upon opening the file Monika perks up in surprise, "You notice something?" Nathan asks her while scanning the code, "Yeah! The scroll bar is much smaller than what it used to be, looks like there was more code added to her file." Natsuki scrolls slowly through the code giving Monika and Nathan time to make sure that everything is fine. After a few minutes of scanning they reach the end of Natsuki's code and start entering her father's code, "That's weird, Natsuki's code is just fine… but all of the new code seems to be directed only to Jack," Monika said as Natsuki scrolled down to check the new code, but her expression quickly goes to one of confusion, "H-Hold on, that's not code… it's writing?" Nathan nods in agreement "Yeah, it looks like some kind of diary?" he says equally confused as Monika. Nathan begins to read the story that was written in the file out loud for all to hear.

 **HISTORY:**

 **Monday, Month: XXXX, Year: XXXX**

Character: Jack

 _I woke up in the morning as per usual, hungover and with a large headache. I don't remember what I did exactly yesterday, nor do I honestly care to be honest. Before I opened the door to leave my room I hear someone running out of the house in a hurry and slamming the door. It was that damn kid; must she always slam the door in the morning? The slam of the door caused my head to hurt even more, I felt a glare grow on me as I took a mental note to make her pay for this later. After a while of recollecting myself I figured that I ought to go. Considering that I never left food in the house I got changed and left to a bar that I would always go to on my days off. Even though I was hungover, that didn't stop me from going out to drink more._

 _I spent the whole day in the bar, and before I knew it, it was already late, I decided to call it a day and pay the bartender for my drinks. All of this was the same routine for the past 18 years, or at least that's how I remember it. That was the last time I ever felt any joy, the last time I ever bothered to care for anyone. I had been happily married back then, me and my wife were the happiest of couples. I used to smile everyday with my angel, I was happy, and that was all I wanted. We were married for 2 years when we decided to have a child, she was hesitant, but I pushed her onto going through with it. That was when everything started going downhill, while my wife labored our child she had suffered from various nightmares she would constantly feel herself drifting in an empty space, surrounded by screams of pain and agony. At first, we didn't think much of it, but it got worse, the nightmares progressed night after night. It got so bad to the point that she wouldn't sleep at times, she was starting to slowly loose it. She wasn't the sweet angel I married anymore, there were points where she would go missing from the house, I would go out to look for her, but I wouldn't find her, it wasn't usually until I got back home that I would find her at the porch staring into the night sky, speaking gibberish. I was afraid… I felt like I wanted to go insane with how much I worried for her, but that only made me shiver at the thought at what she was going through at the time. It all continued to build up until the day the baby was born, there had been a passing storm that night, I accompanied her to the hospital since she was going into labor. I stayed the night with her while she slept after the baby had been born, she called her Natsuki. After watching over her at night I dozed off and was awakened by a creaking door. When I came to my senses I panicked, my angel was missing, I saw the door was left open and I rushed out calling for her. A loud crash of thunder filled the building as I continued to search for my beloved. I looked in every possible hallway, asked every doctor for her whereabouts, I was losing it, but that's when I found her, she was outside. I rushed out without a second thought after her she simply stood there giving me an eerie smile, she never spoke no matter how much I insisted for her to come back to her room. It was at that point when I heard her laugh, but it wasn't the sweet laugh of an angel that I remembered, the person that was standing before me was someone who had lost their sanity, she laughed hysterically as the storm got louder, the winds got stronger, and whatever sight I had of her was lost when she ran off. I tried chasing after her, but I felt my body move against my will, something pulled me back to the hospital, and forced me to go back to sleep that night._

 _No one ever saw my sweet angel again…_

 _I… I was furious, I told the police to continue the investigation, but after a month they deemed the case unsolvable. At one point I was taken in for questioning, they suspected me of being the one responsible for it all, I've never felt so insulted in my life. From that day forth friends and family would simply glance in my direction giving me a look of disgust, I was pushed away. To be judged so quickly, to be seen as a monster, I began losing control of my emotions and that's where it began, that's when I started drinking, and I would arrive home to find the kid, the one who made this life of mine a living hell. I despised her… no it so much, I hated it. As it grew up under my house, I never was the one in charge of taking care of it, my wife's mother had stepped up to take care of it during its first 2 years. That was until she passed away mysteriously, I felt lonely, she was the only one that truly ever saw me as an innocent outcast. After her passing I had no one to turn to so I simply tried to take care of the kid on my own but to no avail. I thought I could care for it but all I could see in it was a parasite that sapped the once cheerful life of its mother and pushed her to the brink of insanity. It was when it reached the age of 5 when I began raising my hand against it, I felt that if I put the beast under the same pain and suffering that I felt then maybe I could finally be at peace, but it was never enough. At one point it began picking up a hobby, it began reading books that my wife had used to read, I was furious, it was like I was being taunted at every turn with this monster, I was constantly reminded of the failure of a husband I was, to be there for my wife. It was strange, there were times that even I felt scared of myself, but I knew that this had to be done._

 _Now we move on to today, I left the bar as miserable as ever, I had to go back home to that thing that would constantly remind me of my angel of a wife. That's when I noticed a faint glow coming from the forest on my way back. I decided to go check it out, saying that it would buy me sometime away from the demon that tormented me. Upon inspection I found a purple ruby deep within the forest, it glowed a beautiful royal purple color while giving a hypnotic hum. The sound made me feel at peace, it cleared my mind like never before, that was before I had the idea to touch it. I felt my headache get worse as I started to feel sick, I eventually passed out with the Ruby clutched in my hand._

 _I had a dream at that point, I heard someone speaking to me, could it be? I heard the voice of my angel that I thought had been long gone, it was her. I heard her voice along with various loud screams filled with pain and suffering entering my thoughts. Even so, I focused on the voice of my love that I had heard, it began taking form as a woman I had never seen before. I knew it was to good to be true, to see my sweetheart once again. That's when it spoke again in her voice, "Jack, I need you, sweetie? Can you hear me?" I began to hear the sounds of the Ruby again entering my mind while being blinded by a tint of red hue, my head started spinning. I looked back at the woman, I smiled as I called to her, "Yes, I remember you sweetie… you're my sweet angel," the figure smiled. Then I saw her extend her hand to me asking, "Did you miss me darling?" I nodded as I tried fighting the tears, "I've missed you so much sweetie."_

 _It was at that point that she started 'explaining' what had occurred to her, she mentioned something about us being part of a 'fake' reality, that we were all part of a game. That we were just pawns in the eyes of our creators. She told me that her file had been scattered by our creators who didn't want us to live a happy life, but instead of removing her instantly the creators decided to torment our life slowly. While I didn't understand much of what she meant, she did make one thing clear, that she wanted revenge just as much as I did. I took the opportunity instantly as I told her to trust me with any tasks required, she mentioned the Ruby I had found, that it went with the name Phantom Ruby. She informed me of its history, and how it came from another fabricated reality, yet the abilities that it contained would be enough for us to reach our goal. With it I could posses immense power, capable of changing this 'game' along with the power to bring her back, and to take us to the outside world. I simply nodded as she instructed me with my task. Find the bridge that connects this fabrication to the 'real' world and use the Ruby, it will bring a 'real' human so I could use it to enter the real world. From then on forth I woke up, and the voice of my angel continued to speak from deep within my mind, from then on forth I listened, and did as I was told by my angel. She made one thing clear to me, keep the demon, 'real' human body, and the bridge to the real world safe. I complied but asked why the creature that he despised for so long, she simply said that it contained important information to create a physical body for her so that she too could join me on my conquest against the world and our creators._

After Nathan had finished reading the story everyone was left in silence not to sure of what to make of it. "Say… guys are you okay?" Nathan asked trying to bring them back to their senses. Natsuki is first to respond, "Y-Yeah, I'm okay," she said, "I was just surprised to see that my mother sees me the same way as my father." Shay saw the pink hair girl's gaze turn to one filled with grief and decided to comfort her, "Hey c'mon Nats, I'm sure this probably isn't real anyway," he said turning to Nathan for reassurance. "Shay is right, well I think at least, some things just don't add up, like how it mentioned that Jack didn't recognize this woman at first until the Ruby affected him," he said as he started thinking deeply. "You don't think that's the Ruby's doing is it?" Monika asked curiously, "Because this makes it sound like the Ruby has its own entity within it if we say that this woman isn't really Natsuki's mother." Nathan nods in agreement, "Well when Sonic here was transported into this world the Ruby itself took hold of the Chaos Emeralds to get away from him, and then here we saw it do the same thing by pulling Jack out of Null Space, whatever is inside that Ruby can't be Natsuki's mother but is instead more than likely some kind of entity that could be tampering with Jack's memories." Shay turns to Natsuki, "See Nats there's no way that can be your real mother, whatever that was must be using Jack for its own selfish gain, and don't worry we'll always be there for you, so don't ever think for a second that you aren't loved," he her with a serious look. "You're right," Natsuki said calmly as she turns to Nathan, "You said that the Phantom file was attached to another asset, right? Libitina was it?" Nathan nods, "So theoretically Libitina should be the name of my mother, but my mom's name isn't Libitina its Maki," everyone looks at Natsuki in confusion. "Wait really? How do you know this I thought you were too young to know her?" Sayori questioned.

"Well, the truth is I was once visited by my grandfather, or my mother's father, my father never knew about this, but my grandfather gave me a box of used manga that belonged to my mother," she explained to the group. "The manga collection box was under the name Maki, and the books that were given me was the Parfait Girls Volumes," she said silently. Shay's eyes widened, "Is that why you hold that manga so close to you?" he says while Monika adds, "And that's why you wanted to keep it safe in the club from your dad?" Yuri also begins to add, "Is that why you were so angry when it was moved without your permission?" Sayori also begins to stammer in, "That's why you were so worried about your volume when Shay borrowed one of them?" Natsuki nodded, "Yes, I've always held the manga close to me since I always looked up to my mother even though I never actually knew her."

"Wait, so what is Libitina?" Monika begins pondering deeply, Natsuki begins to scroll more down through her character file and finds assets for something called Project Libitina. Nathan analysis the line of code and sees something interesting, "Hey look," he says pointing at a line of code, "It says that its creating some sort of image file within the game's folders." Nathan reads the directory and instructs Natsuki on how to find it, they eventually find the image within the game's file and it has the name 'Project Libitina.'

Upon clicking the file, the image is projected, displaying an extremely pale woman with white hair, and complete white eyes lacking pupils. "Ah?! Could that be the woman that's impersonating as Maki?" Sayori asked feeling creeped out by the woman's stare. Shay turns to look at Sayori, but notices that Yuri was completely pale and starts shaking, "Hey Yuri are you okay? You don't look to good," Yuri turns to Shay slowly and begins turning, "A-Ah t-that w-woman, i-its Libitina," Monika looks at Yuri confused, "How do you know Yuri?"

Yuri takes a bit to calm down as she begins to explain, "W-Well the thing is that woman is exactly like a person known as Libitina in my book," Nathan perks up at Yuri's statement, "The Portrait of Markov?" Nathan asks her. Yuri nods, "Well I'll have to explain the book, pretty much it's a religious camp that was turned into a human experiment prison, and people there are experimented on to turning them into killing machines that lust for blood," she explains seriously, "the reason for this behavior is because their trying to unlock a third all seeing eye on the people there." Sonic gives a confused look with a shrug, "I think he's trying to ask what this has to do with the woman Libitina?" Nathan says translating for Sonic. "Well the thing is Libitina is a goddess that is worshipped in this camp, she is described as being a pale woman, with white hair, and completely white eyes." Sayori gives Yuri a stern look, "Why didn't you tell us this before? When we found out the name Libitina a while ago?" Yuri flinches at Sayori's comment. "A-Ah?! W-Well I-I just thought that it sounded too crazy of a coincidence just based off the name, but when I saw the picture I was sure that this was somehow connected."

Yuri recollects herself, "Also another thing is that there was a real goddess in the roman times called Libitina, apparently she was the goddess of death." Monika felt still a bit lost with all of this, "I don't understand, why is this connected to Yuri's book," Nathan perked up as he began to explain, "Well the team that made this game actually seemed to have teased having their next game based of the Portrait of Markov by having files about it in the game, I guess that's why the Ruby must be using it." Nathan began realizing something, "Hold on the Ruby, if the Ruby is using the asset Libitina… could that mean it's trying to take the form of the goddess of death Libitina by making a body of it for the Ruby to possess?" Shay shrugs, "I guess, I mean that's the most we can dawn on with the amount of information we have," Nathan nods in agreement.

"Well I guess that's all we can do with this," Monika says after a while trying to tamper with the files, "Doesn't seem we can erase the Phantom file or any ties it has." She sighs in frustration. "Actually… I want to test something," Nathan says before anyone decides to leave, "What is it?" Monika asks curiously. "Well, I just want to ask, how did you access information from my computer during our first run, you know my real name?" Monika remembered, during the third act, "Y-Yeah, I did that, but I could only access the name, I tried getting more information, but it was all protected behind a user password." Nathan seems to be getting excited as he says, "Hey then can you help me access files from a different game," Monika nods, "Okay I can try," she says instructing Natsuki.

As soon as they exit the game files to access a different game a window shows up asking for the user password, Monika gets a disappointed look acting as if she just failed a simple task, Nathan notices and comforts her "Hey don't worry, because I think that password may be the one I appointed to my computer." Monika raises her head starting to get a bit excited wondering what Nathan could be up to. Nathan then told Natsuki what password to type in, after clicking enter the window disappeared and a new one appeared saying access to user computer has been granted. "ALRIGHT!" Nathan shouted with excitement, he then started guiding Natsuki to access his steam folders containing his games. "Okay now what you want to do is click on that folder called Sonic Forces," Natsuki does so and begins to ask, "Are you planning to bring another Sonic?" She asks, but Nathan shakes his head. "No! I was going to, but it took this Sonic a long time to get loaded into this game, but objects seem to enter far faster than characters."

Nathan then guides Natsuki to a folder having 6 different files, "Boy am I glad I extracted these files out of the game, okay Natsuki so highlight all of them and copy them," Natsuki nods and does so. "Okay now go back to the Doki Doki Literature Club game, and paste those files onto the item file," while Natsuki does so Monika asks, "So what are those files anyway?" Nathan turns and says, "Weapons," Monika nods as she says, "Oh oka- WAIT WHAT?! WEAPONS?! ARE YOU CRAZY!?" she shouts glaring at Nathan, meanwhile Natsuki had clicked paste inside of the item folder, and a black box appeared saying:

 **os,add item/void,chr**

 **os,add item/lightning,chr**

 **os,add item/cube,chr**

 **os,add item/asteroid,chr**

 **os,add item/drill,chr**

 **os,add item/hover,chr**

…

 **items added successfully**

 **NOW SPAWNING ITEMS:**

 **Alrighty that's it for this chapter, hope you've enjoyed reading this, I sure have enjoyed writing this. To be honest this story started off as a joke idea for me, but over time I decided to see it through and just started writing, I'm glad to see that people are actually enjoying this, and I hope you have a Happy New Year.**


	12. Real Smiles, and Real Laughs

**A New Year a new Chapter, I hope you enjoy it.**

Within a canyon a passed-out man was lying down unconscious with his right arm clutched tightly. The mysterious individual was none other than Jack, who was pulled out of Null Space by the Phantom Ruby in an attempt to save itself from its own destruction. Jack woke up clutching his right arm as he stood up. The Ruby began glowing lightly as the cracks on his arm began to envelope on the Ruby's colors and _healed_ his arm. He then heard a voice speaking to him through his mind.

'Jack, that was a really risky move my darling,' Jack nodded as he responded, "Yeah, I didn't actually think the emerald would overflow the Ruby with power, good thing you told me to drop it before it got worse." He looks down at his arm, but feels a shaky feeling, as if the damage on his arm still linger within him, 'Yes, while the Emerald did damage you, it does seem that the Ruby has gained a higher limit of power, meaning you'll have a larger amount of stamina than what it used to be,' the voice says trying to keep Jack's attention away from his arm's strange feeling. "Yeah, I wonder…" Jack says as he begins to think deeply, 'What's the matter darling?' Jack looks down at his clutched hand as he felt power built up within it, he opened his hand as the Ruby began creating a small pulsating energy ball. Jack closed his eyes as he concentrated on a mental image of Classic Sonic, he recalled the hedgehog's movements and abilities.

After a while of concentration he opened his eyes and grasped the pulsing energy ball and threw it in front of him creating a portal leading to nowhere. Jack crossed his arms as he patiently waited, 'What is that darling?' asks the voice, Jack smirks as he tells the voice to wait. After a while various red and black particles start coming from the portal and begin to form three Classic Sonics with blank looking eyes (imagine the Copies of Shadow from Sonic Forces and how their eyes look very different.)

'Oh my, Jack this is a very impressive ability you've picked up, the ability to create illusions,' the voice said with an impressed tone, Jack smirked as he began walking up to the three fake hedgehogs. The portal began letting out even more particles creating three more Classic Sonics, "If I want to beat that hedgehog and take over the _real_ world, I have to learn how to properly control the amount of energy I use when attacking," Jack tells the voice as he glares at the illusions. "By managing my energy, I'll be able to at least prolong the amount of time I have before the Ruby needs to recharge again." Jack clutches his fists as he begins floating up in the air and commands the fake hedgehogs to attack him, "And I'll do so by practicing my power against these fakes."

 **Items added successfully**

 **NOW SPAWNING ITEMS:**

Those were the words that the black command box showed before it disappeared, a portal then opened near the club members as the weapons that Nathan asked for were spat out into the room. Meanwhile Nathan was still being scolded by Monika, "WAIT WHAT?! WEAPONS?! ARE YOU CRAZY!?" Monika shouted angrily. Nathan held his hands up defensively as he began trying to explain himself, "W-Wait! H-Hold on now Monika," Nathan says in a shaky voice, but goes quiet and frowns as soon as Monika begins glare at him. Sayori notices that Nathan is beginning to get depressed, and decides to cut in, "Uh?! Hold on Monika!" she shouts getting everyone's attention, "I think you're being a bit too harsh on Nathan, right?" she says worriedly to the rest of her club members.

Shay nods in agreement, "Sayori is right, besides, you saw how much of a threat Jack is, he's just far to powerful." Natsuki nods in agreement alongside with Sonic, "Their right Monika, when it comes to Jack we don't stand a chance against him, he kidnapped me, and I couldn't do anything to defend myself," she says in a serious tone. Yuri begins to chime in also to defend Nathan, "Y-Yes Monika, I'm sure Nathan is only doing this because he's worried about all of us, and considering that Jack has grown so strong that not even Sonic can stop him, we should probably consider this option," Yuri says calmly to the president. Meanwhile Nathan seems to get more confident, making his frown disappear. Monika's expression turns to one of guilt as she turns to Nathan with a sad look, "um… I'm sorry Nathan, I guess I just wasn't thinking right, I didn't realize that you were trying to help us," she says with a shaky voice.

Nathan notices Monika starting to get sad and decides to cheer her up. "No Monika, I'm sorry," he says with a warm smile, Monika perks up as she looks at Nathan, "W-What do you mean? They're right, I was being way to har-" she cuts herself off as she shakes her head, "No, I was being a jerk to you, both when you got to the club and now," she said as she looked down at the ground sadly. "It's just… I've been so used to having everything repeat in a cycle, you know? Me being in control of the game's events, and now I don't even know what to expect from the future, and it's really scary," she said shakily. "I've just been under a lot of stress lately with all of this Nathan, and I'm just worried about you, about all of you," she says as she looks up to Nathan.

Nathan smiles as he tries to cheer her up. "It's okay, I forgive you Monika, I get how you feel, but I promise that we will fix this mess, you just have to trust all of us," Monika feels a strange knot in her stomach as she nods, "I-I will, t-thanks, Nathan," she says quietly as she feels her face get a slight blush. 'Eh? Why do I feel embarrassed?' Monika thought to herself as she felt her blush disappear.

After a while Nathan focuses his attention back to the spawned weapons. The group walks up to the colorful weapons as Nathan picks up an orange drill looking weapon. "What are those? They look like toys," Natsuki asks as she eyes them. "They're wispons, in Sonic Forces the Phantom Ruby was used by Sonic's enemy Dr. Eggman, he successfully took over 99.99% of the world forcing the resistance army to fight back using these," Nathan explained to the group, "each wispon has its own abilities, I'll take this one," Nathan says as he shows the drill wispon, "This is the drill wispon, allows me to rev up the drill in order to travel at high speeds and break through anything in my way, I'll use this to destroy that annoying spike attack of Jack, but it'll leave me wide open to those blasts he shoots."

Nathan notices Yuri grabbing the purple wispon in curiousity, "that's the void wispon Yuri," Nathan tells her, "that wispon acts as a vacuum and sucks up anything in its path, that could definitely be useful to suck up those energy blasts from Jack," Yuri nods as she decides to take the wispon. "OH! OH! Nathan, what does this one do? It looks cute," Sayori says excitedly as she picks up a blue wispon. "Eh? Oh that's the hammer wispon Sayori, by slamming the hammer down a shockwave will go around the floor and turn any enemies around you into blue cubes, essentially freezing them and destroying them, but we could use it to also destroy the spike attacks," Nathan explained to which Sayori was very intrigued by. "Hey Nathan, what about this one?" Shay asks as he picks up an indigo colored wispon with a ring around it, "that's the asteroid wispon, it has an auto lock on feature, so you can shoot at your targets, it breaks them or it's atoms turning them into blocks that follow you, that should work on Jack's blasts and spikes, so it's very useful" Shay smiles as he takes a liking to the description told by Nathan. "Say Nathan what about this one?" Nathan turns to Monika who is holding a green wispon, "That's the hover wispon, it can shoot strong gusts of winds in the form of a blast that is strong enough to break through metal, so it should be good enough to also break spikes and stop blasts," Nathan explained, Monika smiled as she told him she'll use the wispon.

"H-HEY! WHY DO I GET LAST PICK?" Natsuki shouted with her wrists on her hips. Nathan chuckled a bit, "Hey c'mon you got the lightning wispon, to be honest it's one of my favorite wispons, though I picked the drill one since it's the most difficult one to use in my opinion," Nathan explained. Natsuki smirked as she stood proud with the lightning wispon, "UWA?! Well if you say it's your favorite wispon, then it must be a good wispon." she said with a smug smile. Nathan nodded as he explained the wispon, "well the wispon allows you to use an electric whip to destroy various enemies, though I don't think it could work on the spikes attack, but it should work in order to destroy the energy blasts," Natsuki grew a smirk on the abilities that the wispon had.

"Say Nathan," Shay called out, "What's up Shay?" Nathan turned to the other boy. "Well I was wondering; can't we spawn in rings? You know to turn Sonic into his super form like you mentioned?" Nathan's eyes quickly go wide as he begins stammering, "Y-Yeah, why didn't I think of that?!" Nathan shouts, he quickly turns to Natsuki and guides her on the retrieval of the file that contains the information about Sonic's rings. It takes about 20 minutes, but they eventually finally place all of the information into the item folder causing the black box to appear again.

 **os,add item/ring,chr**

…

 **Item added successfully**

 **NOW SPAWNING ITEM:**

A portal then opened and spat out a single ring in front of the group, the portal then closed leaving the group in dumbfounded, the ring rolled over to Nathan's feet like a wheel and fell flat. "Oh, you got to be kidding me," Nathan said in an annoyed tone, "All this time, and it only spawned one?" Sayori looks at him and starts giggling uncontrollably, "That sucks! And we need 50 of them for him to turn into his super form," she manages to say quickly before continuing with her laughter. "S-Sayori, I-I don't think now is the time to laugh," Yuri says shyly, but seems to also be slightly giggling. She tries to hold her laughter back, but gives up as soon as Shay begins to laugh alongside Sayori. Meanwhile Natsuki starts laughing alongside with Sonic, who's body language shows him chuckling at the misfortune of the single ring. Nathan can't help but smile at the group while clutching the one ring in his hand, he turns to Monika. He notices that her face is red, and she is covering her mouth with both her hands while giggling quietly to herself, trying really hard not to burst out with laughter. Nathan smirks mentally and gets an idea, "Why are you guys laughing? It's not funny," Nathan said with a joking tone while maintaining a serious face. The howling group start laughing louder than ever at Nathan's joke. Nathan looks back at Monika who starts getting even redder and buries her entire face deep into her hands trying to keep herself from laughing, but in no time she completely succumbs. She removes her hands from her mouth and puts them on her stomach as she starts laughing loudly. Nathan smiles as he starts chuckling a bit too at his own misfortune. In between laughs Monika tries to apologize, "I-I'm S-Sorry Nathan… I-It's just y-your reaction… it was just really priceless!" she says that last part with a higher pitch as she starts laughing louder.

After a while Monika regains a bit of her composure, and is still giggling lightly while everyone else but Nathan is laughing loudly still. Nathan can't help but smile at her to which she notices, "W-What? Is something wrong?" she asks him. "Eh? No, it's nothing, it's just the first time I've seen you actually laugh at something," Nathan says with a chuckle causing Monika to blush lightly, "O-Oh r-really? S-Sorry, I didn't mean to make fun of you," she says quietly looking down. "Eh?! No, that's not what I meant, it's just…" Nathan trails off as he looks away, "it's just you were kind of cute," he said quietly, causing Monika to grow a deeper shade of red and look down at the ground in embarrassment 'Eh? I don't understand, why am I embarrassed, during our last run I wasn't feeling like this,' Monika thinks to herself as she mentally ponders this new feeling.

 **Back with Jack**

Jack had blasted over many of the fake hedgehogs and had only one left to take down. The illusion hedgehog ran away in fear from the man, Jack quickly zoomed in front of him causing the hedgehog to bump into him and fall back. The fake hedgehog looked at the man in fear, as Jack held his hand in front of the hedgehog and blasted him. "That's the last of them, and I feel that this is a good stopping point," Jack said out loud, 'Very well dear, I shall prepare a portal to renter Null Space' the voice said while Jack nodded 'Say are you sure it was a good idea to leave those kids in Null Space?' Jack smirked and said, "sure, it's not like they can tamper with the files, not without the Phantom Ruby or any privileges which they both lack," he said with confidence. The portal finally appeared, and Jack entered it.

Within Null Space the group finally stopped laughing and regained their composure Nathan noticed a small portal forming and expanding in Null Space, sending a chill down his spine. "Oh no! GUYS WE ARE LEAVING NOW! GRAB ON TO ME!" Nathan shouted as he pulled out his Chaos Emerald. Everyone sees the portal and run up to Nathan. Monika and Shay hold on to his shoulders, while Sayori, Yuri, and Sonic hold on to each other while holding on to Shay. Nathan quickly concentrates and is just barely able to warp everyone out of there with Chaos Control as the portal began visibly forming Jack's shadow getting closer to it.

The group was warped back into the club room, they glanced around and sighed in relief at the sight of familiar territory. "Oh yes we're back," Sayori chanted, "Oh my favorite chair, I've missed you," she shouted with glee as she hugged the chair making everyone laugh. Nathan looked down on his wispon and looked back at the group, "Well, now since we've got these wispons, how about we meet up tomorrow on Saturday to learn how to use them? I'm sure it won't take that long to learn how to use them," Nathan asked the group. Everyone nodded in agreement saying that they'd be down to meet up.

"Well, we should probably leave now," Monika said as she looked at her friends, everyone nodded, got their stuff packed, and put the wispons away in their bags. Meanwhile Natsuki was helping Nathan with hiding Sonic in the gym bag again, Nathan made sure to not zip all of the bag up in order to let air in for the hedgehog. After that everyone walked out of the club room and waited for Monika to lock up the room. The group exited the school, and as they left the gates Shay spoke up, "Say now I can say this is truly the first time we all walk home together," Shay told the group, "Eh? That's right, last time we were all warped to Monika's house," Sayori said cheerfully with a smile. The conversation was broken by the sound of a growling stomach, Shay turned to Sayori giving a grin, "W-What?! It wasn't me this time!" Sayori stammered trying to defend herself, while everyone quietly giggles. "Uhm… Actually, that was me," Nathan said quietly, Monika turned curiously, "Really? When was the last time you ate?" Monika asked worriedly. "W-Well," Nathan said shakily as he scratched the back of his head, "Me and Sonic haven't eaten anything since this morning," he says with an awkward smile. An unzipping sound is heard as Sonic pokes his head out of the gym bag nodding in agreement to Nathan's statement.

Monika and Natsuki give the two a stern look, "Skipping meals is not very healthy you two," Monika says seriously as she crosses her arms, to which Natsuki nods in agreements. "It's true, if you skip your meals you'll suffer from malnourishment," she says while putting her wrists against her hips. "Well we were going to eat… but after the whole powerplant fiasco we were kind of more concern about our injuries," Nathan explains, "But since we didn't really find anything for our injuries well… let's just say we may have lost track of time and had to rush to the club when we realized we were late."

Monika sighed, but smiled as she looked at Nathan, "Well then, guess we'll just have to go stop somewhere to eat on our way home," Monika chimes with a cute smile. Nathan flinches lightly and retorts, "B-But, I don't have any money to pay for me and Sonic's food," he says shyly to which Monika shakes her head. "Don't worry about it Nathan, I'll pay for you two," Monika says happily. "Uwah?! No fair! Can we go too?" Sayori whines to Monika who smiles happily. "Sure, let's all go together," Monika answers, her voice getting more excited, to which Nathan begins to perk up in curiosity towards Sayori.

"Hey, hold on, if I remember the events of the last game correctly," Nathan said as he put his hand on his chin. "You don't have any money on you right now Sayori," he said with a grin to which Sayori flinches. "Eh? N-Nathan what are yo-" she gets cut off by Shay who calls her out, "SAYORI!" he shouts as Sayori freezes up. "You were planning on guilt tripping me into buying you something weren't you?" Shay says glaring at his best friend. Sayori goes red in embarrassment as she twirls her two index fingers in her usual manner, "m-maybe…" she stammers quietly. Everyone laughs except for Shay who sighs and smiles, "Okay, I'll pay, but you owe me Sayori," he says as Sayori beams up with a bright smile thanking him.

While all this is happening Natsuki blushes lightly to which Yuri notices, "Is something wrong Natsuki?" Yuri asks the pink haired girl. Natsuki perks up and states, "Um… I don't have any money either…" she says in an embarrassed tone. "Don't worry about it, I'll pay for you also," Shay casually offers while Natsuki blushes at the offer.

After the discussion the group reached a street that contained various restaurants, Monika pointed to one of the nearby buildings, "Hey what about this one?" she chimed with excitement. It was a burger place that had just opened, and Monika seemed excited to check it out. The group agreed and entered the building, upon entering Nathan noticed that the interior was normal, but in the back of the place there were various separate rooms that had a sign. "Hey Nathan," Monika chimed getting his attention, "I'll take care of the order, go ahead and find a seat for us okay?" Nathan nods as he leaves the group to check the rooms in the back. Upon checking on the sign, he reads that the rooms are actually study rooms for students who wish to dine in and have a solitary room for studying. He decides that its best to dine in this room so that Sonic can freely eat without getting caught.

Nathan decides to wait for the group in front of the rooms and is approached by Monika who is holding a tray of 2 burgers, fries and a kid's meal which Nathan assumes is for Sonic. "So, Nathan where should we eat?" She says excitedly which makes Nathan smile, "We can use these study rooms, that way Sonic can come out to eat," he says that last part silently. Monika beams in delight at Nathan's decision, Nathan holds the door for her as she walks in. "Oh, this room is pretty big," she says in awe as she takes a seat on the large table. Nathan sits down next to her and unzips the gym bag in order to let Sonic out

The hedgehog hopped out of the gym bag and stretched out his sleeping muscles. "Here you go," Monika said happily handing the him the kids meal box. Sonic grabs the box, his eyes beams at the sight of the colorful box with various kid designs. He opens the box and the aroma of the food enters his nostrils, completely enticing him as he pulls out his burger and fries and munches happily on them.

Nathan smiles as he turns to Monika who is still smiling, "You seem pretty excited," Nathan says. Monika nodded as she smiled and looked at Nathan, "Is it that visible?" she chimed Nathan chuckled, "Yeah, you're acting kind of like Sayori right now." Monika giggles lightly, "Well I'm just excited because this is the first time I've ever actually done something like this," she explained to him, "Eh? Really? I would have figured that you'd do this sort of thing all the time since the game said you're the most popular girl in school," Nathan said curiously. Monika shook her head, "Well, the fact since I apparently am the quote on quote most popular girl," she says while making air quotes with her two hands, "I didn't have many friends because of that since everyone just assumed I was out of their lead." Nathan chuckles lightly at her statement while she goes on, "there is also another reason, my parents were very strict while raising me, so I couldn't go out past my curfew or hang out with friends in general, I was just forced to study and be a good kid, heck now I was allowed to live on my own since our home was so far from the school," Nathan let out a sympathetic sigh, "I totally know what you mean, my parents were also really strict, I couldn't hang out with friends and was also put to constantly study, heck I only got to hang out once with my friends, and I had to lie saying that we were going to have a study session."

Monika perks up with a smile, "Eh? Really? I actually did the same thing myself, that's why I made the literature club," she says casually to which Nathan takes interest in, "Oh really?! Do tell," Nathan says gaining interest. "Well I was forced to join clubs during my high school years which is why I was stuck on the debate club, heck I was able to sway their opinion by saying I would host my own club, which is why I chose a literature club in order to make it sound very educational, but at the same time have it be fun unlike the debate club." Monika continues to ramble on, "That's why I always described the club as a place for people to hang out and have fun, which is why I am constantly pushing for the festival," Nathan perked up at the mention of the festival. "What do you mean? Don't you already have enough members for the school to keep the club up?" Nathan asked curiously, Monika nodded as she went on, "Yeah, but my parents are insisting for the club to have many members, and if it doesn't get many I'll be sent back into the debate club," she said as her smile turned into a frown, "I… I don't want to lose the literature club, especially after this run, I've never had as much fun as I've had now, I've never laughed or smiled like I have before," she said sadly. "Well you don't have anything to worry about," Nathan chimed, causing Monika to perk up, "You're very talented Monika, and I have no doubt that you all will easily gather enough members for your parents to reconsider." Monika's smile returned as her eyes gleamed with hope, "You think so?!" she asked to which Nathan nodded, "I know so, with Natsuki's cupcakes, Yuri's atmosphere set up, and everyone's performances there's no way you won't have enough members." Monika begins to cough abruptly as she sips on her soda.

"You okay?" Nathan asked as he patted her back. "Yeah, it's just I'm not used to being supported and cheered on," Nathan tilted his head curiously, "Really?" Monika nodded as she explained, "Well even though I try really hard with my studies and try to be a good daughter, my parents still criticize me at every chance they get," she says with a light glare as she crosses her arms. "It's always," Monika pauses as she does an impersonation of her parents, "Monika, why don't you play any sports like your cousins, Monika, you shouldn't lie lazily in your pajamas like that, Monika, why don't you have a boyfriend yet," she says that last part in a more annoyed tone, "I mean, how am I going to get a boyfriend if my parents don't even let me hang out with my friends," she complains causing Nathan to chuckles. "Man, I totally understand how you feel Monika, that's exactly how my parents act every day," Nathan says as he also mimics his parents, "It's always, Nathan, why don't you like going out, Nathan, why don't you read a lot like your cousins, who mind you I've never seen pick up a book in my life," Monika giggled as she began to chime in, "Monika, why can't you take summer classes, you know even though you already work hard all year," they then decided to alternate, "Nathan, why didn't you take a college class during high school, even though you already have 3 right now," Sonic smirked at the two's discussion, "Monika, why don't you hang out with the family more often, because you know it's not like we've committed you to study hard every day," they continued on quoting their parents, "Nathan, why aren't you as smart as all your other relatives, you know the ones who are college/high school dropouts who thought it be a great idea to impregnate their girlfriends without a stable job."

The two went on for quite a while quoting their guardians, "Nathan, why can't you speak English as clearly as everyone else?" Nathan chuckled as Monika was intrigued by his statement, "Wait what do you mean by that?" she asked curiously. "Oh right, well you see my family isn't of American or Japanese culture," Nathan explained while Monika nodded as she listened, "Actually my parents are Mexicans, so I'm of Mexican decent making me fall under a Hispanic ethnicity since I was born in America," he went on while Monika was really engrossed on the subject. "REALLY?!" she said excitedly, she pauses to compose herself "So does that mean you can speak Spanish?" she asked with amazement Nathan simply nodded as he remembered how Monika had told him in the previous game run that she really adored other cultures. "That's really cool Nathan," Monika chirps getting closer to him causing him to slightly blush, "Hey Nathan… I know you don't go to our school… but do you think you could also perform something for our literature club in Spanish?" Monika pleads to Nathan shyly. Nathan smiles at Monika, but begins to question the idea, "I can, but don't you think people won't understand what I'm saying?" Monika nods as she ponders the question, "Well, we could write a translation of your poem, on the pamphlets that me and Sayori will make," Nathan nods at the idea.

"Okay, I'll perform, and I'll do you another favor," Nathan says as Monika looks up curiously, "I'm no Natsuki, but I sure can bake a dessert that's popular in the Mexican culture," he says as Monika's eyes beam at the idea with excitement. "YES! LET'S DO IT," she shouts as the others enter the room.

"Let's do what?" Natsuki asked as she entered the room and took a seat next to Sonic. Monika smiled and explained the plan they came up with excitedly to the group. She tells them about Nathan's ethnicity and how he will make a poem in Spanish for the club, along with a dessert, everyone agreed to her idea.

Meanwhile Sonic had finished his food and was digging through his kid's meal box he pulled out a toy tugged in plastic wrapping, his eyes beamed as he saw it was a whistle with a kid police cap and a fake badge. He put on the hat and put the badge on his fur and began blowing on the whistle. "UWAH?! SO CUTE," Natsuki and Sayori shout in unison as they hug the hedgehog who continues to blow the whistle in a panic as he's being squished by the two girls. Everyone chuckles at the three while happily eating.

 **Well I think that's a good stopping point for this, hope you enjoyed this chapter, I'm going to start writing more moments like these since I've focused a lot on Jack and the Ruby lately.**


	13. Nightmare

**A/N… I don't really have much to comment on… well hope you enjoy.**

Upon exiting the portal Jack reentered Null Space he glanced around curiously as he didn't see the group there. "Huh?! Looks like they escaped somehow," he said calmly, 'WHAT?! We have to go after them!' the voice boomed in Jack's head. He shook his head, "No! Sweaty, not yet, I'll let lure them to a false sense of security, it'll give me enough time to master the Phantom Ruby's power," Jack said while the voice shuttered at the end of his statement. "Hmm?! Is something the matter dear?" Jack asked curiously, 'N-No it's nothing dear, but I don't think it'd be wise to push your body to far,' the voice said sternly. Jack rolled his eyes, "Fine dear, I'll rest, besides I still have all of tomorrow to hone my abilities," Jack mentioned casually, while the voice remained ominously quiet. Jack felt his right arm, the same one that cracked by the emerald, it was starting to go numb. That feeling ended up spreading throughout his entire body as he collapsed, groaned as he dropped to the floor, while the voice began to call for him, 'Jack? Are you okay? Jack?' his vision was engulfed in a bright light similar to that of the Chaos Emerald, completely blinding him as the voice in his mind called out to him.

Amongst the light Jack felt himself in the middle of a dream and being awake. He saw amongst the light a woman standing in front of him with messy hair and a smile with a crazy look. The woman began glitching, breaking her form, and reforming with a gaze of sadness with tears streaming down her cheeks. Jack didn't remember who this woman was, but he felt his heart sting with sadness. The woman reached out to him as she shouted to him, but her voice was a garble mess, filled with gibberish and static. Jack wasn't sure why, but he tried reaching out to her desperately, he tried moving his right hand up to this angelic person, but his vision began being interrupted by a red and purple light consuming him. He saw red strings reaching out from behind him, tying around his entire body and pulling him away from the woman as the red vision began drowning out the woman.

Jack gasped as his vision was cleared and he saw himself back in Null Space, "W… What was that just now?" Jack said as he felt a sting his in mind, "Ow, my head?" he said quietly as he clutched his head softly. 'It seems that you still had some energy from the Chaos Emerald tucked within your body it must've caused you to hallucinate, Jack what did you see?!' the voice asked in a demanding manner, Jack stayed quiet as he stared at his right hand which he clutched tightly as he felt a tear go down his cheek. "W-What the?!" Jack stammered as he wiped his tear away. "i-it was nothing," he said calmly. While Jack couldn't see the voice, he felt a strong glare looking down at him, judging his movements. Jack smirked as he scoffed, "I don't remember what happened, but don't worry darling, I'm fine, so don't worry about it," he said calmly. 'Very well then darling, if you say you're okay I won't press on you for answers,' the voice said with doubt. "Well, how about we go and spend the rest of the day preparing the data for your physical body," Jack asked as he walked up to the command prompt as he opened up the image of Project Libitina. The voice didn't respond, but Jack simply took it as a yes as he began to work, all while still thinking of the woman he saw in that vision.

 **Back with the club members**

Everyone was still in the room eating as they conversed with Nathan asking various questions of other of himself. "So, you can bake huh?" Natsuki asked him as she sipped her coke, "I mean, I can bake stuff, though I wouldn't say I'm an expert at it, to be honest if I had to say I only know how to bake cakes, cookies, and maybe 2 other things," he said as he pondered the question. "Well then, I guess I'll just have to teach you a thing or two when making my cupcakes," she said proudly while Shay interjected, "Hey hold on, I thought we were going to do the cupcakes," he said with a jealous tone. "W-Well we are its just…" Natsuki goes quiet as she blushes lightly to which Nathan decides to interject. "Well I'd love to help, but I also have to work on my dessert for the festival," he turns to Shay with a smirk as he continues, "so there's no need to get jealous over her attention man," everyone giggles at his comment while Shay and Natsuki turn away in embarrassment.

Meanwhile Sayori's eyes go wide as she realizes something off, "Monika?! This is the first time I've ever seen you eat meat!" she says in amazement. Monika looks at Sayori as her eyes slowly go wide of realization as she realizes this. "Oh No! I've sinned!" she shouts as her burger slips of her hand and plops on the wrapper. "Oh yeah, you said that you didn't eat meat because of the carbon footprint of cultivating livestock being really large, right?" Monika nods, "Yeah, though I do love meat, I don't want to contribute to it," she said sadly at the bitten burger. Yuri then gets a look of confusion as she shyly asks, "W-Wait, if you love meat, why don't you just eat it?" she says while also adding, "I mean if it's the Earth's Climate you're worried about couldn't you just edit the climate in the game files?" she asked curiously. Monika opened her mouth to reply to the question, but she froze as she let the question process. Slowly her eyes went wide as she realized the simple answer, "OH MY GOD! I COULD'VE ENDED GLOBAL WARMING AND EAT MEAT!" she shouted as she facepalmed herself, earning a chuckle from everyone but Nathan. "Well as soon as we stop Jack and the Ruby, you'll know what to do first when regaining your abilities," he said with a smile earning a nod from Monika who reclaims the urge to eat her burger.

"Say Nathan do you read any manga?" Shay asked curiously. Nathan shook his head, "No, I usually watch anime since my hometown doesn't really have any stores that sell manga," Nathan explains, "granted though I don't watch every anime ever, just whatever I find interesting." Natsuki seems to be interested in the topic and decides to chime in, "So what shows have you watched, err… I mean it's not like I care or anything," she stutters to which Nathan begins to ponder on what to say, 'Would the shows I watch even exist here?' Nathan mentally shrugs as he answers her question, "Well, I've watched Dragon Ball, My Hero Academia, One Punch Man, let's see what else… New Game, Shokugeki no Soma, and oh shoot I'm bad with the name of this one," Nathan says as he ponders the name to the last show he can recall, "it was something, something, Umaru-chan." Shay and Natsuki beam in delight as they go into a deep conversation with Nathan about the mentioned shows and their favorite moments.

In no time the three are engrossed with talking about their favorite shows and making references to them. Meanwhile Yuri, Monika, Sayori, and Sonic are left watching the three loud teens. They decide to end up planning the location and time of where they'll meet up to train with the wispons. The Nathan and the others eventually overhear the conversation to which Shay gains a curious idea, "Say Nathan, the Chaos Emerald was able to overcharge the Phantom Ruby because it had more power right?" he asks to which Nathan nods, "So what if the power he drained from the emerald made the Ruby stronger than the Chaos Emeralds, would we be able to stop him?" everyone goes silent at the thought of Jack overpowering the Emeralds, the only thing that can protect them and give them a fighting chance at this point. Everyone stares at Nathan for some hope, "Well if I had to say, the 7 emeralds shouldn't be overpowered by the Ruby only absorbing energy from 1 emerald." He puts his index finger on his chin as he begins to ponder, "But if it were to overpower them we would be in trouble," as he says this everyone begins to worry, to which Nathan retorts, "although the Chaos Emeralds can also be charged up." Yuri then lifts an eyebrow as she asks, "Then why didn't you do that back when we were in Null Space?" she asks sternly to which he responds, "Well the thing is we would've needed the Master Emerald, which is a boulder sized Chaos Emerald that can either increase or suppress the power of the Chaos Emeralds, and the issue with that is that charging the Emeralds with it causes them to expand to about the size of Sonic and go by the name of Super Emeralds, which would've made it very inconvenient to carry the gemstones along with the Master Emerald." Yuri nodded as she said, "I see, I'm sorry for being stern about it," she said apologetically, "Don't worry about it Yuri, but we shouldn't have anything to worry about, I doubt he'll be able to overpower an emerald, after all they are said to hold unlimited power for the most part."

When they finished their food, everyone threw their trash away and began walking down the same street. "So, have you've all decided when we're going to meet up?" Shay asked while Sayori nodded, "Yep, Nathan you can warp us anywhere with Chaos Control, right?" she asks to which he nods, "Okay, so we figured that it's probably best if you warped us to the club room, that way we could train in the school field since its really big," She said excitedly while Natsuki tilted her head in confusion. "But won't there be any students who are in sports clubs training? Or any of the custodians?" she asked worriedly, to which Monika shook her heads. "No, the sports season has ended, and the custodians work on Sundays, the school is pretty much empty tomorrow." Nathan smiled at the idea, "Well sure, sounds like a plan, though…" he began to trail off as he looked at the four girls. "What's wrong?" Yuri asked curiously, "Well… you girls may not want to wear skirts that day… the wispons require various gymnastic movements that could easily _expose_ well you know what I mean…" Nathan said with an awkward tone. The girls blush at what Nathan is implying and simply nod, "Y-Yes, I guess we should," Yuri stammers with a bright red face.

The group continued to walk until they reached a fork in the road, "Say Monika, can I spend the night at your house?" Natsuki asks shyly, Monika smiles and nods, "Sure, you want to hang out with Sonic, don't you?" Natsuki blushes lightly as she begins to retort, "N-No, it's not cause of that or anything," she stammers. Monika simply giggles, "Though I'd have to bring some of my clothes over from Sayori's house," she said in wonder, "I can bring them for you," Shay offered. Natsuki huffed at the offer, "UWAH?! That's pretty creepy, having a gross kid carry my clothes," Shay simply crossed his arms and turned away, "Okay, fine by me, guess you'll just have to train tomorrow in a SKIRT!" Shay shouts sarcastically causing Natsuki to blush. "H-Hey c'mon you know I was only joking," Natsuki retorts as Shay chuckles, "I know, I just thought it be funny to get a reaction out of you Nats," Shay said while Natsuki simply smirked, "fine, bring my clothes, but don't do anything funny," she said in a stern tone. Shay simply nodded and left with Sayori who waved away at the group as she left. Meanwhile Yuri said her shy goodbyes and walked forward to her house, which was at the fork in the road.

The three teens began walking in the opposite street of where Shay and Sayori went, eventually reaching Monika's house.

Upon entering the building Nathan sat the gym bag down to let Sonic out. The hedgehog hopped out of the bag and struck a pose upon his landing. Natsuki smiled and grabbed his arm as he dragged him towards Monika's room, "Hey Monika, we're going to go read Parfait Girls in your room kay?" she said as she closed the door. "Ahahaha…" Monika laughed awkwardly at the fact that she didn't even get to say anything. Nathan stretched his arms as he groaned, "Man I'm beat, I already had to face Jack twice in one day," he said as he lazily plotted on the couch. Monika plopped down next to him and looked at him in anticipation.

"What's up?" Nathan asked as she blushed lightly, "W-Well…" she began as she messed with the locks in her hair, "I was kind of hoping we could continue the conversation we were having back at the restaurant," she said shyly. Nathan chuckles lightly, "Okay, what do you want to talk about?" Monika lights up as she begins, "Well, you said you were going to make a dessert for the festival, what are you planning to make?" Nathan smirks as he wags his finger, "Sorry, I think I'll just tease you and surprise you till tomorrow," Nathan says making Monika huff and cross her arms. "Oh, c'mon Monika don't get mad," he says as he nudges her arm with his elbow. She giggles lightly as she smiles, "Alright, alright, I'll wait," she says as she thinks of another topic to converse about.

"Say, now that I remember, you and Sayori spent an awful long time in the club room's closet, where you guys talking about something?" she asks curiously to which Nathan slightly flinches, "N-No, we weren't talking about anything," he stammers. Monika raises an eyebrow to his statement, "You're lying, you were really sad after…" she pauses as she frowns lightly, "I yelled at you like a jerk… but when you left you were back to your old self." Nathan seems to flinch at Monika's analysis, "W-Well… you see…" Nathan said clearly uncomfortable over the topic, Monika notices and places her hand on his shoulder to comfort him. "It's okay you can tell me," she said sweetly, "f-fine, I guess there's no harm in telling you…" he says silently. "You see… the thing is… I told Sayori that I get easily depressed whenever I'm yelled at, which is why I was in a really bad mood after…" he pauses as he frowns lightly and looks in front of him, "You shouted at me for being an idiot." Nathan feels an arm wrap around his body, and realizes that Monika is holding him in an embrace while holding a frown. "I'm sorry Nathan, I'm really sorry, I was just… really paranoid, I swear I didn't mean any of it," Nathan smiled and shook his head, "it's okay Monika, I forgive you," he says while Monika continues to hold the embrace.

At that moment Natsuki and Sonic walk in and grin at the two, "UWAH?! Is this the kind of things you two did yesterday?" Monika gasps as she goes red and turns to Natsuki. "AH NO! That's not it!" she shouted while Nathan and Natsuki chuckled at her reaction. After Monika managed to regain her composure a knock was heard at the door. "I'll get it!" chimed Natsuki as she went to the door, she unlocked the door to see Shay, who was carrying a box presumably with Natsuki's clothes. "Hey Nats, here's the stuff you asked for, Sayori packed most of the stuff," Natsuki took the box off his hands and smirked, "You didn't do anything gross with these did you?" Shay simply scoffs and says, "I told you I'm not gross, and no I didn't do anything with them," Shay says as he turns around. "H-Hey you're not going to stay for a while?" Natsuki asks while Shay stops, "Do you want me to stay?" causing her to blush at the question. Monika gets a mischievous smile as she whispers something into Nathan's ear, who grins and nods at her. "NOOOO MY NATSUUKIIII!" shouted Nathan while impersonating Shay's voice.

The two suddenly blush causing Natsuki to retort, "N-N-Never mind, its late anyway," she stammers as she quickly slams the door. Shay stands there still blushed, and begins to walk home with heated cheeks. Meanwhile Natsuki had turned over to the two teens sitting on the couch with a glare. Monika was giggling uncontrollably while Nathan had a grin plastered on his face. Natsuki quickly ran at Monika and began shouting Monika's name while swinging her slender arms at her. This only made the brown haired girl giggle more, as Natsuki's swings didn't really hurt her, but instead tickled her. "N-N-Natsuki, N-N-No, P-Please S-Stop," she said sporadically as she giggled louder. "I don't get it; don't you like him?" Nathan asked curiously causing Natsuki to even more red. "W-What are you talking about?!" she stammered, to which Nathan responded, "I mean, you two are really good friends, and he was really upset when you got kidnapped, he really cares about you." Natsuki freezes up, letting up her attacks on Monika, and grows even more red she quickly gets up and runs back to Monika's room, with Sonic trailing behind.

Natsuki slams the door and buries her face in Monika's bed out of embarrassment. Sonic glances at her with a worried look, he decides to walk up to her and tug at her arm. She doesn't budge, it wasn't till her blush was completely gone that she looked up to Sonic who gave her a what's wrong jester. "Hey Sonic," she says quietly as the hedgehog looks up at her, "Was Shay really worried about me… you know when I was taken away…" Sonic nods in response causing Natsuki's blush to return lightly. "B-But it wasn't just him, right? everyone else was also worried right?" Sonic nods and her blush disappears as she chuckles lightly, "W-Well of course, I guess he was just as worried as everyone else," the tone of her voice sounding slightly disappointed. Sonic notices this and picks up the Parfait Girls volume she was reading to him, he looks up at her with puppy eyes while clutching the book. Natsuki lets out a slight awe at him, and sit down to read the book.

Eventually night dawned, Monika allowed Natsuki and Sonic to sleep in her room, while she had decided to sleep on one of the two couches to accompany Nathan. The two laid on their respected couch in silence. "Say Nathan?" Monika whispered breaking the silence, "If we beat Jack… and we get the Phantom Ruby… we'll have to say goodbye to you and Sonic… won't we?" she asks while Nathan stays quiet for a while. "Y-Yeah, I guess we will," he says calmly, while the room is to dark, Nathan can feel Monika frown at the response. "But, we shouldn't dabble on that," he retorts, trying to avoid the subject. "You're right, it's just that… I had a lot of fun hanging out with you, with all of you, I've never had so much fun in my life," she whispers lightly. The two continue to converse until they eventually fall asleep, the night is silent while they sleep. Meanwhile Sonic, who is being clutched like a stuff animal by Natsuki, seems to be having a nightmare due to his tumbling and fumbling.

Sonic opened his eyes and looked around, finding himself in Null Space. His heart began beating at a rapid rate as he heard the Phantom Ruby's humming/buzzing sound from behind him. He heard a scream from the same direction, and as he turned he felt a force push him to the sky, various red wires circled around him, and clutched him tightly as he fell to the floor. He opened his eyes as he saw everyone by his side, standing up against Jack. The villain smirked as the ruby exploded in its signature color and sound, blinding everyone in the process. Upon his vision being returned, Sonic saw that everyone had been caught by the red wire attack. The wire had tied around Sayori's neck and lifted her up. Yuri had her arms tied up by the red wire, they sunk deep into her skin, cutting her as she too was lifted into the air. Monika had been snatched from her torso, and was being squeezed tightly, making her unable to breathe. Meanwhile Nathan, Shay, and Natsuki, had been picked up by the wires, and were being zapped by some sort of electrical current. Everyone screamed in pain until they eventually went silent. Sonic panicked as he heard Jack walk up to him, he looked up at the Ruby holder who was now towering over him. He couldn't see his face, but was able to see the Ruby which was giving a menacing glow. He could see his own image reflecting off the Ruby, and felt his heart drop as he frantically glanced around. He saw that everyone had been dropped to the floor, everyone was still and silent, he wasn't sure whether they were alive or dead, Sonic glanced back at Jack who was giving a menacing smile. The last thing he saw was his own reflection one more time from the Ruby, as he blacked out hearing Jack whisper, "You brought this upon them."

Sonic jolted up awake in a panic. He realized that it was all a dream, and sighed in relief. He turned to the sleeping Natsuki, who had a small smile as she snored lightly. He gave her a look of sorrow as he got out of her grasp and walked out of the room silently. He walked on over to the living room and noticed that Nathan was gone. He got a bit worried, but noticed that he was fumbling through the kitchen for a cup of water. Nathan noticed the hedgehog walking into the kitchen, "Hey what's up? Can't sleep either?" Sonic nodded in response with his worry look still on him. Nathan pauses as he sees this, "Did you have a nightmare?" he asked while Sonic nodded in response as he took a seat in the table. Nathan found the cups he was looking for, and poured water for the two of them, he handed the hedgehog the cup while taking a seat next to him. "You want to talk about your nightmare?" Nathan asked, noticing that Sonic was still disturbed by the looming dream. The hedgehog nodded, and Nathan stood up as he got a couple of sticky notes that Monika kept in the kitchen along with a pen. He handed them to Sonic so that he could explain through drawings, since his body language would make it complicated.

After a while of exchanging pictures and body language, Sonic finally explained to Nathan what his nightmare was about. Sonic looked down at the floor with a sad stare, Nathan patted his head as Sonic looked up at him confused. "Don't blame yourself for this Sonic," Nathan said as he comforted him, "I know you think that this is all your fault, but trust me you've made everyone happier than what they would be without the Ruby's interference." Sonic looked up at Nathan with a confused look, "In this game everyone was meant to be harmed, Sayori would hang herself from her depression, Yuri killed herself from insanity, Natsuki would've been erased, and Monika…" Nathan paused not wanting to finish his statement. He shook his head as he continued, "But anyway, you've really improved their lives for the better, so don't worry about your dream, because I promise it won't happen, and we will stop Jack." Sonic's gaze changed to one of hope until he realized something else, and his worried expression returned. He pointed at Nathan with a worried expression, "eh? you're worried about me?" Sonic nodded as Nathan shook his head. "Don't worry about me Sonic, I've had fun hanging out with all of you," Nathan reassures him, but Sonic still seems to be somewhat worried over the situation.

Nathan smiles as he tries to cheer him up. "Hey c'mon look sharp," he says as he pats him in the back. "Let's make a promise okay?" Nathan offers as he holds a fist out to him. "We're going to keep moving forward no matter what, yeah? To save them, and give them the ending they deserve," Sonic looks at Nathan and his extended fist for a while, the hedgehog eventually smiles as he nods and fist bumps Nathan. He hops off his chair and waves to him as he returns to Monika's room. He sees that Natsuki is still sound asleep, but is trying to grasp for something where Sonic had been lying down. Sonic climbs on the bed, and is snatched up by her, she holds him like a stuffed animal as she silently calms down. Sonic smiles as he closes his eyes and calms down, he goes to sleep swearing that he'll protect Natsuki and everyone else.

 **I actually wanted to try and make a more Sonic centric chapter, I'm willing to take advice if anyone's got it, that and some for Yuri too.**


	14. Just Crazy Talk

**Okay, so I'm honestly cutting it close with this story, I'm returning to school in about a week, so I might actually start updating more slowly when next week roles around.**

The sun rose, and its rays beamed through the living room windows, Nathan opened his eyes at the rays of light pierced his gaze. He rubbed his eyes as he woke up and started to stretch his arms, but flinched in pain upon doing so. His body was completely sore, it seemed that all of the previous bruises from his confrontations with Jack had finally caught up to him. He felt numb on his right cheek, as it was also bruised from a punch that Jack gave him the other day. He reluctantly got up in pain, grunting in the process. He noticed that Monika was slowly rubbing her eyes as she woke up from her sleep, "Good morning Nathan," she said drowsily as she let out a yawn. "I'm going to go get change," Monika said as she got up and walked to her room, she then later left to the restroom with clothes in hand.

Natsuki walked out of the room with Sonic by her side, "Good morning," Nathan greeted her while he felt a sting from his right cheek. He ignored the pain in an attempt to keep anyone from worrying, though his gaze shifted to Sonic who also seemed to be really sore since he was rubbing his cut arms. "Good morning Nathan," Natsuki said as she sat on the couch and grabbed the remote from the living room table. "You want to watch something?" she asked to which he shook his head, "Nah, go ahead and watch whatever you want," he sat there as he watched the tv silently, Natsuki had changed the channel to the Saturday morning anime shows that were playing. Nathan couldn't help but squint in pain as he felt his arm really hurt, Nathan sighed as he got up. "I'm going to get some water, you want any?" Nathan asked, to which Natsuki nodded. Sonic followed behind as they entered the kitchen.

"Say, you're sore too huh?" Nathan whispered to the hedgehog who nodded, but flinched in pain as he did so and rubbed his neck softly. "We should rest for today, hopefully we don't have much to do today," Nathan whispered to which Sonic agreed. Just then Monika entered the living room, wearing a green tracksuit, Natsuki looked over to her and asked, "Say Monika, what's for breakfast?" she asked curiously. "I was thinking we could go out for breakfast today with the whole group, well not until after the training because someone could get sick with all of the movement." Nathan and Sonic's expression turned to one of despair, "OH NO! I forgot about wispon training," he said worriedly.

Nathan and Sonic entered the living room with two cups of water each, Nathan gave his two cups to the girls, while Sonic gave him one of the two he was carrying. Upon sitting down Nathan clenched his teeth quietly as he focused on not showing a pain expression. After a while the doorbell rang and Monika stood up to answer it. Upon opening the door, she was greeted by Shay, Yuri, and Sayori. Everyone had a tracksuit on, Shay with a blue one, Yuri with a purple one, and Sayori with a red one. "Alright, I'm ready to test these weapons out!" Shay said excitedly as he held a gym bag which presumably held his wispon, while Sayori yawned, "Couldn't we do this later, it's way too early to be up on a Saturday," she whined as she pouted. "N-Now Sayori, we should focus on this training, we've relied far too much on just Sonic," to which Sayori sighs and reluctantly nods. "Well then come on in, we'll be ready in a few minutes," Monika said with a smile as she held the door opened for everyone.

Everyone entered the living room, Shay and Sayori took a seat next to Natsuki, while Monika sat next to Sonic, and Yuri reluctantly and shyly sat next to Nathan. Upon seating herself she gently bumped his arm with her elbow, Nathan flinched lightly as the bump gave him a slight sting. "Ah! I-I'm sorry Nathan," Yuri said worriedly as she apologized in a whisper. Nathan glanced around the room quickly and was relieved to see that no one noticed his pained reaction, Yuri noticed this and was about to ask him if he was alright. Before she could say anything, he turned around quickly and said, "S-Sorry Yuri, you just surprised me," Yuri blushed lightly as she lost the words she was about to say.

Luckily for Nathan, he was already wearing clothes he could use for their training, so they just waited for Natsuki who was given a pink tracksuit by Sayori. When she came back, Monika shut off the tv and stood up, "Okay everyone, let's go," she announced as everyone stood up. Everyone formed a circle as they held on to each other and closed their eyes. Yuri shyly placed her hand onto Nathan's arm, and accidentally nudged him causing his arm to quiver. She frowned lightly as she quietly apologized and closed her eyes, Nathan began to concentrate as he gripped his Chaos Emerald in his hand and visually imagined the club room. After a minute of concentration, the Emerald began to glow brightly, and enveloped the club members in a bright light, sending them to their club room.

 **Null Space**

Jack opened his eyes as he woke up, he had kept himself floating in the air as he slept through the night. 'Good morning sweetheart, shall we get to work?' Jack shook his head lazily, "Nah, I said I was going to train today, you agreed yesterday remember?" he asked. 'I never said such a thing sweetie, please, let us finish the work on my bod-' Nathan hushed the voice as he began opening a portal, which began summoning various illusions of Classic Sonic. "Easy their sweetie, working on your body would be a waste of time if I don't have the strength to make it come to fruition," he said as he took a fighting stance. 'Jack, please you're more than strong enough, so please jus-' Jack ignored the voice as he charged at the illusions and began zooming with the Phantom Ruby's energy, he would usually leave a track of energy behind, but this time the residue was a lot smaller in its amount. This meant that Jack had learned to be more efficient with the Ruby's power, and was able to overall maximize its abilities.

While the voice was silent, Jack felt a stern look glaring at him throughout his time training. Upon striking down the last Illusion Jack scoffed as he dusted himself off, 'There are you done? Can we please get back to w-' Jack interrupted the voice again, "Nope, just a few more rounds," he said excitedly as more illusions exited the portal. The voice silently grumbled to which Jack chuckled, "Don't worry sweetie, I'll make sure to make this up to you," he said with a smile as he charged again.

 **Clubroom**

The school was completely empty, no teachers, no students, not even the scurrying of mice was heard throughout the building. The Literature Club room began enveloping itself in a mysterious light, as the group faded into the room alongside it. "UWAH?! I can't believe I have to come back to school in a Saturday," Sayori wined as she sighed, she quickly widened her eyes as she turned to Monika, "I-I mean, I'm not winning about the Literature Club, it's just school, you know?" Sayori stammers as she tries not to offend the president. Monika simply giggles lightly as she turns to the door, "C'mon, let's get out to the field, there should be more than enough room to use these wispons safely," everyone nods as they follow Monika out the hall. "A-Actually I need to stop by the restroom real quick, you guys go on ahead okay?" Nathan says while nudging Sonic, who stays with him.

Nathan waits for everyone to turn the corner to go down the stairs, he sighs once their out of sight. "Good, c'mon let's go wait out for a bit, you know so we can go down the stairs at our own pace without having to mask our pain," Nathan tells the hedgehog who nods in agreement. After a few minutes the two decide to go, as they slowly descend the stairs they wince lightly upon each step, Nathan groans through gritted teeth upon reaching the second floor, "ARGH!? Whose idea was it to put the club in the third floor," he complains quietly as he goes lower. As he does so he decides to mask his face from any implications of pain, just to be safe incase anyone is waiting for them at the bottom.

Upon the first floor being visible Nathan spots, someone waiting for them at the bottom. It was Yuri, she was silently waiting glancing up the stairs, upon seeing them she smiles lightly. "Ah, I told everyone I would wait for you I-I mean you two, so I could take you to the field," she says shyly as she turns away. Nathan was relieved, glad that Yuri's shyness made her turn away, so he could get down quickly while tanking some of the stings. "Thanks Yuri, I really appreciate it," he said kindly as he reached the first floor, Yuri blushed lightly as she nodded, "W-Well c'mon," she said quietly as she led the way.

Yuri guided them silently through the hall, she was glancing at Nathan every once in a while, he didn't notice until the fourth time she did so, and they locked eyes. She quickly blushed and turned away, "Ah-Ah I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare, it's just you've been acting strange lately," Nathan mentally freezes, 'Oh no! she's on to us… I can't let her know… C'mon brain think, think,' he tells himself mentally. He ends up coming up with an idea on the spot, "Eh? What are you trying to say I'm some kind of weirdo?" he says this while faking an offended face and frowning. Yuri blushes as she waves her hands in denial, "N-NO! I DIDN'T MEAN THAT!" she shouts and gasps after, "Oh no… I raised my voice… I'm… sorry," she says as she turns away. "Ah no its fine, Yuri, I'm honestly fine, so don't worry about it," Yuri doesn't turn around but simply nods as she continues to walk down the hall.

Midway Yuri turned left and led them to a door leading to the field. She opened the door and held it open for the two, Nathan thanked her and walked out of the school, after some distance he waited patiently for Yuri to come out. The three began walking together towards the field, in the distance they could see the rest of the group. Sayori seemed to have gotten over her cranky attitude, and was doing cartwheels excitedly around the group. Monika was busy doing some stretches in preparation, while Shay and Natsuki were conversing with each other.

Sayori stood up and saw Yuri and the others, she smiled as she began cartwheeling their way and stopped in front of them, "C'mon you guys, let's get started," she said excitedly as she quickly snatched Nathan's arm and hastily pulled him across the field. Nathan's face contorted to a pained expression for an instance when Sayori turned around, but quickly masked it with a smile as they reached the group with Yuri and Sonic trailing behind.

Monika lifted herself up from her stretches as she walked up to Nathan, "Okay, we're all ears teach," she says with a smile as she holds the hover wispon on her hands. Nathan smiles as he pulls out his drill wispon from the gym bag he brought, "Okay, for now we should avoid pointing them at each other, focus on spreading out and focus on shooting at the vast field, their range isn't that large, so we should be fine," he explains while everyone nods. The group spreads out, while Sonic jogs lightly throughout the field, he may be sore but that doesn't mean he'll stop running around. Nathan looks down at his drill wispon and begins to rev it up, 'I should only rev it up once, so I can take it easy on my body, and practice the different speeds,' he thinks to himself. The drill revs up once and he is pushed forward quickly a few feet, the quick tug at his arm makes him groan lightly at he feels a sting from his soreness. Luckily, he was far away from everyone else and no one could hear his pained groan.

Monika stood afar from everyone as she pointed her Hover wispon to the vast field, she pulled the trigger and a strong gust of wind blew from the wispon, the amount of recoil caught her completely off guard. The wispon pushed her off her feet and she fell down a few feet away from her starting position. Nathan noticed this and calculated the distance between her and him, he revved up the drill wispon accordingly and stopped a few feet by her side. "You okay?" he asks as he extends his hand out to her, Monika smiles as she takes it and pulls herself up. "Yeah, these things pack quite a punch, I sure wouldn't like to be on the receiving end of one of these," She says with a light giggle, Nathan smiles as he nods in agreement, "Yeah, these things are strong enough to damage Robot Mechs from Sonic's world."

Meanwhile Shay was shooting various little asteroid blasts from his Asteroid wispon, the projectiles were quite fast on their movement though their size were relatively small. 'Huh, it's pretty fast to spam, not too bad of a weapon, especially if Nathan is right in the fact that it can auto aim too,' he decided to test this feature out by picking up a few pebbles from the ground. He shakes them on his palm for a while and throws them high up and far into the air, he quickly points the asteroid wispon to the airborne pebbles. Upon doing so he sees various reticles on the airborne pebbles, he quickly pulls the trigger quickly many times to shoot down the pebbles. The mini Asteroid projectiles quickly curve upon being shot and automatically hit each of the pebbles. "Hey, you're a natural man," Nathan says as the drill wispon drags him at an incredible speed up to Shay. He is slightly startled by the quick movement done by the weapon, "Not as impressive as that one, I barely even got a glimpse of you showing up here."

Just then a scream is heard by the group, "UWAHHH!?" Everyone turned to the source of the scream. It was Sayori, she somehow ended up atop a stack of blue cubes, really high up from the ground and with no way to get down she shakily held her Hammer wispon. "S-SOMEBODY HELP MEEEE! I'M SCARED!" she shouted from up above with a tone filled with surprise more than fear. "W-What?! That's the wispon's special ability, it can't normally create cubes, how did you even pull this off?" Nathan asked confused. "I-I Don't know!" she shouts from up above, "My Chaos Emerald fell from my pocket during one of my swings, and I accidentally tapped it on the hammer, then the next time I slammed it this happened." Nathan was intrigued by this as he turned to Monika, "Say Monika, try tapping your Emerald to the wispon," he said while Monika held a confused expression, "Me?!" she asked, "What good will that do?" Nathan begins to explain how her Hover wispon's special ability is to allow its user to take to the sky. Monika nods to the explanation and taps the Emerald quickly onto her wispon, the weapon begins to glow, and Monika pulls and holds the trigger. She screams in suprise as the wispon flares up and pulls her up to the sky, "AHHHH! H-HOLD ON ITS GOING TO FAST!" she shouts with her eyes closed. "Monika open your eyes! You need to grab Sayori and bring her down here!" Nathan shouts as she begins to slowly open her eyes.

Monika looks down and sees that she's completely surpassed Sayori in height, Monika was suspended about 10 feet higher than what Sayori was and panicked, "N-N-NATHAN I'M TO HIGH! HOW DO I DESCEND?" Nathan explained that in order to descend she needed to let go of the trigger, Monika did so and began floating slowly and closely to Sayori's direction. Nathan's eyes widened as he realized something "Oh no! MONIKA KEEP PRESSING THE TRIGGER THE WISPON TURNS OFF IF YOU DON'T KEEP PRESSING IT!" Monika glanced away from Sayori and to Nathan, "What was that?! I couldn't he-" just when she was 2 feet above Sayori the wispon turned off and Monika stumbled onto Sayori. The two fell off the pillar of cubes and began falling rapidly, screaming. "AH CRAP! QUICK CATCH THEM" Nathan shouted to Shay, who quickly began getting ready to catch Sayori. Sonic stopped his jog throughout the field as he saw the 2 girls fall, he ran towards the screaming girls, but he knew he wasn't going to make it in time. Nathan quickly took his position to catch Monika, he clenched his teeth and prepared for the worst.

Monika and Sayori crashed onto the two boys, causing them to fall down with the girls. Nathan groaned as the weight of Monika completely squashed his body, 'I'm really going to feel this in the morning,' he whined in his mind. Meanwhile Shay had also been squashed by Sayori who was tearing up by the whole experience. Nathan put his gaze up to Monika, who was still lying on top of him. She wasn't moving but he felt her breathing against his body. "M-Monika?" Nathan says as he shakes her lightly, no response comes from her. Nathan starts slowly panicking as the girl doesn't seem to respond, Yuri and Natsuki hurry over to them while Shay is still underneath Sayori. "S-Sayori, quit crying you're fine, and you mind cutting down on the cupcakes? I almost felt my spine break with that impact," Shay says as he pushes her off of him.

"Monika! Is she okay?!" Natsuki asked worriedly, while Yuri got on her knees to brush the president's hair off her forehead. "She's still breathing, so that's a good sign for the most part," Yuri says anxiously. "This is all my fault, I'm an idiot, how could I do this!" Nathan said while tightening his fist. "N-No Nathan, you didn't mean any harm, this was all an accident," Yuri said trying to keep the situation under control. Sonic, Shay, and Sayori approached the group slowly with a worried expression. Nathan clutched his head with both of his hands, "No, No, No, NO! I didn't mean for this! I didn't mean for this!" he told himself and repeated quietly. 'He's having a panic attack,' Yuri thought to herself, she turns to the other 4, "Should we call the police?!" Natsuki asked out loud worriedly causing Nathan's breathing to rapidly increase. Yuri noticed this and tightened her hand into a fist, she quickly turned to the other members, "No we can't call the police, we're not supposed to be here anyway, we'll get in big trouble if we do. Everyone, let's split up and find something for her condition," the group nodded and ran into the building. She quickly turned to Monika and began loosening her collar and any constrictive clothing, in order to prevent her breathing from ceasing she then proceeded to raise her legs above her heart level. "Nathan, hold her legs like this," she tells him, Nathan nods and does as he's told. Yuri stands up and tells him she'll be right back as she runs into the building. Nathan looks down at Monika with guilty eyes, meanwhile her Emerald faintly glows within her pocket, but unnoticeable to anyone else.

Monika slowly opened her eyes as her extremely blurry vision tried focusing on her surroundings. Her head was lying on a desk as she was seated in the middle of a classroom. "W-What…?" she glanced around the room silently she felt a knot form on her stomach as she felt major déjà vu. Her eyes widened as her gaze met one of the windows, "N-NO! PLEASE! NO!" she shouted as she saw what seemed like the darkness of space outside the window. 'No, this can't be, I didn't erase anyone, I can't erase anyone, why am I here?' she mentally pondered, "Nathan?! Shay?! Natsuki?! Yuri?! Sonic?! Sayori?!" she shouted her friends' names as she felt tears roll down her eyes. She looked down on herself and noticed that she was back with her school uniform, she was silent for a while, she was scared.

"There's nobody here darling," a mysterious voice chimed from behind her, Monika snapped her head to the direction of the voice. She gasped with fear as a woman was sitting down on a chair in front of her, she had a tattered hospital gown, with a crazed look. 'W-Was she there? Before?' she thought to herself. "No… Or maybe I was? I honestly don't remember… I can't remember anything after I dìs̷̲ͅş̩͈ͅa͝p̸̥é̦̫̘̘̬a̪̜̝r̘͔̬ͅȩ͈̠̼̦̠ḏ" her voice contorted to a glitchy mess, she made loud static sounds forcing Monika to cover her ears and unable to understand her. "Whoopsie, my bad that tends to happen from time to t̕im͜e̵ t͠͞í̴̵m̷͟͏e̶͜͡͝ t͂̇ͨͬ̚͠͞͏̟͎̞̗̤͉̻̺̕i̵̵̘̻̲͎͇̣̠̠̩͔̳͓̼̝ͮͪ͛͂̒̄̂͆͛̿̄ͨ̐͂̑ͣ̔ͬ͡͡m̧̖͓͇̗̜̱̯̣̹̦͙̣̮ͦͪ̔ͮ̽͜͞ͅe͂ͧ̒̿̀͂͒͌ͭ́̈́̍̅̓͐̅̆̆͏̢̺̘͕̙͙̺̰̘̫̀͘" her voice looped while contorting it's sound to that of an auto speaking bot. "How did you read my mind?" Monika asked with a shaky voice. The woman gave a crazed smile as she shrugged, "I don't know, I can hear everything e̼͕͙̻̭̤̫͠v҉e̴͓͚̣͉̰̖r̡̲y̲̳͈͎̗͕̝t̗̞h̗͞i̳̱̠̫͍̲ng̻̺̪͈̜̤͠" she said while laughing maniacally. Monika felt completely creeped out, 'Who is she?' she thought to herself to which the woman stopped laughing. She gave a creepy smile to the teen, "Don't you remember me? Well I guess you've mostly heard my voice, v͢͞o͠͏̶i̷͜͜c̡̀̕͞e̷̵̡̧͝, v̨̗̊ͮ̔͗̄ͧ͘ò̙̟̲̺̻̲̔͌̑͆͋́͜ͅͅi̸̢͕̲ͤ͆̂̃c͓̜̊͝e̵͙̹̜̦̲̝̫̺̊̓̅́, v̩͖̺̥̰̥̹̦̟̫͎͈̜ͬ̆͐ͤ̉̈ͩ͊ͣ̀ͪ̀ͮͭ͒͐́̚̚͜ơ̡̻͈̼̥̼̱̝͛ͩ͐͆̅̒͂͞͡i̓̔̓͆͗̓̑ͪ҉̶̝̣̤̠̙̞̙͖̼̦̱̼̣̖̣c̹̯̠̝̟͉̤̩͔͗̒͒ͩͯͮ̄̆ͬ́̀̕e̢̨̛̮̩̘̣̖ͪͧ̈́̿̋̅͛̎̽̌ͤ́͢" her voice began looping again as she began sounding like a robot again. The woman moved her arms as she was stuck on repeat, she clapped her head tightly as she regained her composure.

Monika was deeply disturbed by the situation, "I'm sorry mam, but I don't remember you," she said scared. The woman giggled lightly, "͋ͮͣͣ̏̓̚̚͏̯̻͕̲̝Well, here I'll do a little something so you can rͪ͌ͦ̋҉̼e̙̜̯͚̞̙̹m̷̝͈͈̟̮̠͌́ẻ͠ͅm̶̼͙̮̻͖̜͔͋̈ͣ̔̑̆b̭̭̩̬̫̭̐͂ē̺͔͕̗̣̣̙ͫ̉̓ͭr̜̟ͨ,"̬͚̣̐͌̑ͪ the woman said as she began to scream. Monika covered her ears from the painful screams, she heard loud continuous screams of agony, she couldn't even hear herself think. After a while the woman quiet down as she beamed lightly, "Did it work?! Did it work?! Did you rͪ͌ͦ̋҉̼e̙̜̯͚̞̙̹m̷̝͈͈̟̮̠͌́ẻ͠ͅm̶̼͙̮̻͖̜͔͋̈ͣ̔̑̆b̭̭̩̬̫̭̐͂ē̺͔͕̗̣̣̙ͫ̉̓ͭr̜̟ͨ m͚̮͖͈̜̤̍ͨͧ͗̇ͮ̊̇̆͑̄̎̒̓͜͞e̷̶̵̞͖̠̬̘̝̮͉ͧ̊̋̐̂ͯͩ̿̅̏̊͗̐?" the voice boomed excitedly while Monika recovered from her ringing ears. The teen nodded lightly as she remembered those screams, "You're the one who makes those screams? The screams when the game is turned off?" the woman smiled proudly as she nodded. "Why are you here? Is this real? Am I dreaming?" she asked while the woman simply shrugged, "I was hoping you would know, though I won't complain, I haven't had a b̘̭̫̪ọ̒ď͚͞y̴͇͇̳̰̰ͅ at all for years," she said as she grinned down at her hands. Monika raised an eyebrow as she spoke, "Do you know anyone by the name of Natsuki?" she asked the unstable woman as she felt like this woman could've been connected to Jack's missing wife who seemed to have fallen into insanity. The lady smiled, "OOOOH that's a nice name, Natsuki, it sounds cute, Natsuki, Natsuki, Natsuki," the woman chanted as she repeated the name. "Do you know her?" Monika asked firmly, the lady simply shrugged as she smiled. "Can't say I do, I know of a Natsuki, wouldn't say I know her personally, wouldn't say I know many people personally to be honest," she said. Monika sighed frustrated, to which the woman stared at her, "it's so great to finally be able to t̵̞̰̥͔ͣ̋ͯ͒̇͆͞aͨ͆́ͨͤ҉͙̖̖̯̳̰̥l̎̋̾͒̂̐҉̹͈̳̱̫̪̰̫͠k̸̴̛̜̮̲͔͔͉͔̲ͫ̔͋̒̍̍ͤ̿ with someone again," the woman said cheerfully, "We'll be together forever, I tried bringing that other guy who blacked out, but he woke up," the woman explained quietly. "Other guy?!" Monika asked curiously, "You know, the one with that weird rock on his chest, I saw him, and I got really, really, sad when I did," the woman said as tears started rolling down her cheeks. "You mean Jack?" Monika asked the lady who shifted from crying to a look of wonder, "Jack? Oh, that's a nice name, he's quite the charmer you know," the lady chimed while Monika ignored the statement. "Listen, I can't stay here, I need to get back to my friends," the lady's gaze turned to one of sorrow, "Oh? I guess your right… though before you do I need to tell you something," the lady said her expression now going from sadness to excitement. "Somebody is c͠҉̡͘͝h͘҉̸̢e͜͝҉͡͏a̡͟͡t̴͘͠҉͠i̷̕͜͏̨n̸̸̨͠g͏̸̨̀͟!" She chimes, "Cheating? What do you mean?" Monika asked curiously. The woman giggled, "Someone is getting broken files to make something big and bad," the woman said as she lifted her arms. "They brought something that doesn't belong here, and it's messing with the files, that's no good," she said wagging her finger. "You need to stop that person, the game isn't liking it, if they remove the bad thing from the game it could collapse in on itself when they escape," she said cheerfully. "Everyone will be suspended in the empty void, forever… well everyone but them!" she chimed, Monika's eyes went wide as she heard this. "You mean… the empty void with endless screaming?" she asked anxiously. "Yep that's the one," the woman said happily, as she giggled. "Ugh… I need to leave… How do I leave?!" Monika asked anxiously, the lady shrugged as she spoke up, "I don't know, I don't even know how I got here." Monika fumbled out of her chair in a panic and fell down. Her Chaos Emerald rolled out of her pocket, she gasped at its sight and grasped it. "Oh, that's really pretty, what is it?" the woman asked, Monika ignored the question as she saw the emerald glow. Her entire vision was engulfed by the emerald's light, she heard the woman in the background continue to talk to her as her voice began fading out.

Monika felt herself lying down on an itchy surface, she felt a breeze of wind hit her face as she slowly opened her eyes. "Monika! Your okay!" she sat up slowly clutching her head as she saw Nathan who looked at her with a worried expression. "Nath-" she was interrupted by Nathan who quickly embraced her, she blushed lightly as she was caught off guard by the sudden embrace. "N-Nathan, what are you doing," she asked embarrassedly, but only received many apologies from the sobbing boy. "I'm sorry Monika, I'm really sorry, this is all my fault," he sobbed quietly as he cried over her shoulders. Monika smiled as she patted his back, "It's okay, I'm okay, this wasn't your fault," she whispered as she started crying too. 'I'm so glad I'm back, I'm so happy I can feel this kind of kindness,' her thoughts were interrupted as she saw her club members exit the school and entering the field. She quickly pulls Nathan away from the embrace and tells him to clean his tears up, Nathan nods and blushes as he does so. Monika blushes also at his worried expression, she feels her heartbeat quicken, 'Why do I feel like this? I've never felt like this before,' her thoughts were interrupted by her club members who called out to her. "Monika your okay!" Sayori chimed as she tugged her in a hug, while Yuri stammered, "S-Sayori please, don't shake her to much." Natsuki sighs in relief, "Jeez you really had us worried there, for a second I thought we'd be in some big trouble," she said to which Shay nodded in agreement. After that everyone waited for a while for Monika to regain her strength and continued with their training.

 **This was a pain to write cause of the glitch text… I mean no man that's all in game… or in fic? Idk. Anyway, I'm going to start trying to incorporate sections with Jack in these chapters. Meanwhile next up more training.**


	15. Self Reflections

**This is the last chapter I'll be uploading for a while, because I will be returning to school shortly, I will try to at least update once a week if I can.**

After Monika had regained her composure Nathan decided that it would be best to temporarily have him train everyone one at a time, and then leave them on their own once they got comfortable with the weapon. Nathan was able to make quick work with Shay since he fully understood how his Asteroid wispon worked, he also taught him the special ability of his wispon, which gave Shay a temporary shield with the various indigo blocks made by the asteroid wispon. Yuri then stepped up to the field and Nathan stood a fair distance away from her, "Okay Yuri, I'm going to throw these rocks, then you will hold the trigger on your wispon until all of them are gone," Yuri nodded as Nathan threw the rocks and Yuri activated the Void wispon. The purple machine opened up its mouth and began vacuuming up the rocks out of the sky. Once all of them were gone Yuri let go of the trigger while Nathan walked up to her, "Well… that's about it, next I should teach you about its ability," he instructed her to tap her Chaos Emerald onto the wispon, Yuri did so, and the gadget began to glow purple catching her off guard. "Ah! W-What now?!" she asked with a shaky voice. Nathan gently held her arm and pointed the wispon straight forward, Yuri blushed lightly at the sudden contact, "Okay, so just so you don't get caught off guard, you're going to be turned into a temporary jolt of energy, it'll end up warping straight ahead," Yuri nodded lightly as Nathan stepped back to let the purple hair girl test out the ability. Yuri pulled the trigger, and her entire body was deformed to a dark purple light, it shot forward at an incredible speed. It made it half way through the field until the purple light blew up, and forming back into Yuri who landed on her two feet.

After a few more practice rounds Yuri felt like she was comfortable with the wispon, Nathan nodded and moved on to the next person, Natsuki. The pink haired girl walked up and made room between her and Nathan. "Okay Natsuki, so what you want to do is swing the wispon around," Natsuki nodded as she did one swing in front of her. As she swung the wispon a large whip of electricity came from the gadget, alongside with that she was pushed forward in the direction of the swing. Natsuki stumbled shortly as she lost her balance, Shay couldn't help but laugh at her stumbling, which made her turn with a grin. "Eh? Your laughing?" she said confidentially as she pointed her wispon at him causing Shay to choke on his laughter. Natsuki giggled lightly, "Yeah, that's what I thought, gross kid," Shay flinched at the fact of being called gross, he turned away with a sour expression, "says the SHORT KID!" he shouted sarcastically. Natsuki raised an eyebrow at that and swung her wispon at his direction, the electric whip came out from the gadget and missed him. Shay flinched in recoil at it, "H-Hey don't do that, that's not safe!" Shay said raising his voice. Natsuki smirked as she crossed his arm, "Well it's your fault for calling me short," she said with her confident attitude. "That's still no excuse to point a weapon at someone!" he shouts with an angry tone. This causes Natsuki's expression to change to one of slight sorrow, "Eh? c'mon you know I wouldn't hurt any of you, I was only messing around," she says gloomily, she then slowly cocks her head to the right as she goes on, "and… I'm sorry… I didn't mean to make you mad…" she says with a shaky voice. Shay sighs deeply as he starts feeling like a jerk, "Well… I'm sorry too… you did tell me how you don't like being called short, I forgive you Natsuki just don't do it again," he said with a serious tone. Natsuki smirked as she turned her head back to face him, "Hmph, it's not like I care if you forgive me or anything," she said with a confident attitude. Shay can't help but chuckle lightly, "Whatever you say Nats," he said as he left to train more with his wispon.

Natsuki returned back to Nathan, and practiced her swings more until she was more comfortable with it. After a while Natsuki turned to Nathan, "Alright so what is my special?" she asked Nathan who put his index finger against his chin. "Uh… actually, I don't even think you can use it," he said as he recalled what the wispon did. Natsuki crosses her arms as she gives a sour look, "What do you mean?" she asked with a curious look, to which Nathan responded, "Well… its ability was supposed to dash through a line of rings, you know the ones that turn Sonic into his super form, but since there aren't any rings in this game it doesn't really do much." Natsuki frowns as she puts her wrists against her hips, "That sucks, well it doesn't really matter I guess, so I'm fine with this," she shrugs as she complies with her handicap situation. "I'm going to go practice with the wispon then," she says as she makes her way afar from everybody else.

Nathan then calls Sayori over in order to teach her how to use her hammer wispon, she runs cheerfully over and holds the hammer excitedly. "Alright, I'm ready Nathan," she says as she swings the hammer in the air. "Okay, Okay calm down," Nathan says with a smile. "Alright, so I'm sure you know how slamming the hammer down causes a shockwave, right?" Sayori nods, "Alright, so your wispon is actually kind of different in the fact that yeah you can slam it down on the ground, but the wispon actually pushes air from behind it when you swing it in the air," he points at the wispon's back part which has an air propulsion system. "When you swing the hammer wispon in the air it actually pushes air out in order for the user to spin around and travel really far from the jump," he explains while Sayori analysis the Hammer. "Okay, I'm going to give it a try then, everyone make room!" she shouts as she gets ready to get a running start. Everyone stands by Nathan as they prepare to see Sayori's attack. Sayori starts running down the field with the hammer on hand, she then jumps up with all of her might, and the hammer starts pumping out air, sending her higher and farther away. The rushing air escaping the wispon causes Sayori to start spinning around, sort of like Sonic. She spins extremely fast as she travels a good distance and crashes the hammer against the floor with a large shockwave. "UWAH?! That was really crazy," Sayori said dizzily, but she smirked as she turned to the group, "Guys this is fun, I'm going to do it again!" She then ran off and began jumping and spinning across the field again. "Okay!" Nathan called out, "Just make sure you practice your special ability," he says to which Sayori shouts in agreement. Nathan sighs as he calls out to Yuri to keep an eye on her.

'Okay, next up is… Monika!' Nathan turned to the brown-haired girl as she walked up to him with her Hover Wispon. For the most part training her was basic, he would throw rocks up into the air and she would blast them with the gusts of wind that the wispon would shoot. Nathan noticed that Monika seemed that her mind was wandering during their training. He paused and walked up to her, "You doing okay? You seem distracted," Nathan asks causing her to perk up. "Say, Nathan… I need to tell you something… that happened when I passed out," she said awkwardly in a low voice. "What do you mean?" Nathan asked with a confused tone, "W-Well… geez I don't even know how to start… you'll probably think I'm crazy or something…" she explained as she sat down on the grass. Nathan took a seat next to her, clenching his teeth lightly as he still felt sore, "Can't be as crazy as getting sucked into a game alongside with a blue hedgehog that can run faster than the speed of sound," Nathan joked, causing Monika to giggle lightly, "No, I guess not, but it could probably come close." She took a deep breath as she began, "Well, when I passed out, I woke up inside the literature club but…" she takes another deep breath as she explains, "The room, it was… you remember when I deleted everyone, right? How it was pretty much just you and me in the clubroom floating within space," Nathan nodded as he recalled the event. Monika's gaze turned to one of sadness as she looked ahead, "That's where I was when I woke up… I was scared, I felt like I did something wrong… Like I messed up again… but then there was this woman, a woman that I've never met before, but she knew me for some reason." Nathan tilted his head with a intrigued expression, "Do you know who she was?" Monika shook her head, "No, she had a hospital gown and seemed to have been er… how should I say it? Deranged? She could read my mind, she was really creepy, and… she was sentient like me… she knew about the world being a game," she said with a worried tone. She turned to Nathan with a scared expression, "Nathan… she was scary, she wasn't just unhinged mentally, she was glitchy, she was the one that made those screams I told you about, the ones that I would hear when you turned off the game, I-I don't know who she was, but…what scared me most was that… I feel like I could've ended up just like her if you hadn't deleted me," she began shaking with fear. Nathan rubbed her back as he comforted her, "Monika, it's okay, you won't end up like that anymore because you're not alone anymore, you've got all of the literature club, Sonic, and me, you know longer have to cope to yourself," Nathan whispered to her. "We all care about you," he says, Monika looks up at him, she turns around as she feels a light blush form, "T-Thank you," she quietly says. She gasps lightly as she remembered something, "Ah, I'm getting sidetracked," she pauses as she thinks of what the woman had said, "Nathan when she talked she was… well the way I would describe it as would be glitchy, she would sometimes act like a broken record and would repeat herself along with her voice contorting to strange sounds from time to time," she told him as she went on. "I thought she was Natsuki's mother at first… but when I asked if she knew her she said that she knew of a Natsuki, but that was about it, I figured that it was just probably through the files since she seems to be sentient and can probably see the files," Nathan raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure? I'm not sure we should cross out the possibility," he asked. Monika raised her hand to her chin, "I know, but she also mentioned that she apparently met Jack to the room, but she said she had no idea who he was to begin with, she didn't even know his name, you'd think that she'd be able to remember her own husband," she told Nathan, who nodded in agreement. "But that's not what's worrying me," Monika said surprising Nathan, "She told me that somebody is cheating, and is trying to create something, which I presumed was Jack and the whole project Libitina," she explained to Nathan who nodded. "But she said that apparently if Jack were to succeed…" she began to shutter as Nathan patted her back for comfort, "if he succeeds on creating Libitina… and leaves to the real world… this game will crash in on itself, and suspend us on the void, the one with the endless screams of pain and agony," she shuttered at the thought. Nathan frowned at the sight of Monika's despair, "Don't worry Monika, we will stop Jack, right now the last thing we need is to worry about us failing, but instead focus on working to succeed!" he tells her, "So please, don't think negatively, don't lose hope, not when we've gone so far, okay?" he asks the shaken girl. She turns to him and nods softly, "I guess… I…" she begins to frown, "I… just can't help but feel this is all my fault… If I hadn't messed with the game none of this would've happened, if I wasn't selfish you would've been safe in your world," she slowly begins to tear up as she buries her face in her hands. 'Oh no, she's crying, what do I do? I'm really bad with these kind of situations,' Nathan thought to himself, he glanced around and noticed that everyone else was gone. 'Ugh, I was kind of hoping that Sayori or Yuri could help me,' Nathan turned back to the weeping Monika. 'What would Sayori do in this kind of situation?' Nathan thought to himself, he recalled the many times anyone was sad Sayori would comfort them by hugging them and comforting them, this made Nathan blush lightly as he put his arms around the weeping girl. He silently held her as she buried herself against his chest sobbing quietly.

 **Null Space**

Jack had blasted a large group of Classic Sonic Illusions and had yawned as he waited for more to appear. "You know, while these illusions are as strong as the real rat, they sure as hell lack the intelligence to fully utilize their abilities," Jack said as the portal summoned more Sonics the voice stayed silent for a while. Meanwhile the illusions charged at the man, Jack dodged and effortlessly punched them one at a time, "Not to mention they go down fairly easy, but hey I guess I'll have to settle for quantity over quality when we reach the real world." As Jack finished off the hedgehogs the voice finally spoke again, 'Jack you've trained long enough, can we please focus on the creation of my body,' Jack shook his head, "C'mon, I've only been at it for an hour, just one more," the man whined as more Sonics came out of the portal. Jack charged at them while the voice boomed on, 'Jack stop, you've trained enough!' Jack ignored it while he continued to lay waste on the illusions, piercing them with spikes and blasting them. 'Jack! Don't ignore me!' the voice boomed on while he put no attention to it as he destroyed the last hedgehog. He got into a fighting stance as he waited for the portal to summon more illusions, 'Jack! I said that's ENOUGH!' As it said that, the voice contorted it's sound to that of a demonic voice, the ruby began to glow as the portal closed, Jack face changed to one of confusion, but was than contorted to one of pain as he felt his entire body was getting electrocuted. All of his pain was stemming from the Phantom Ruby, Jack clenched his teeth against the pain, but his vision was covered by a bright red and purple hue, and he fell to the floor as he passed out.

Jack woke up and found himself floating within a white void, he looked around and saw that woman again. She was the same woman that gave him the crazed smile when the chaos energy affected me. "Who are you?!" Jack said as he called out to the lady, she simply gave a crazed grin again. She opened her mouth as she attempted to talk, her voice contorted as if she was talking through a phone with an unstable connection. "W̸e҉҉̷̕ĺ̛́ĺ̡ ͏̷̢̡h͏̀̕͜ȩ̴͟͡l̷̢͝͏l̢̀ó̵͡ ̧̀͞t̸̨̀̕͝h̢͢͢e̸̡͘̕ŕ̕͘҉ȩ̶̷̕" the woman said, "E͜͏̴h̸̨?̕͢͏ ̶̷͞y̵҉̴̴̨o͜͞ú̴̢̀'̨͢͢ŕ̸̢e͏̸ ̛͏̴͘q̴̶̛̛͟ư̧̧͟i̴̡͞t̕͜͢e̸̛͢͡ ̴̶̡̨͠t̵̵̕͝͞h̡͟͠͞͏è̷̴̴͝ ̴͢c͜͜͠h̴̀́̕a̵̡͟r̷ḿ̕͟҉e̢̨ŕ͘,̵͟͝҉ ҉́͏̢(̨̀$҉͝)̶́́͝%͟͏̡̧̀_̡͡#́͜ ̷́͘͡w̡̢͏̕ę̶ ̴͠͠҉m̢͟͏̴ę̸͜͞͡t́͟ ̶͢͢͝b̷̢̧̛ę̢͟͜͠f̷ó̶҉r͏̸̨̛́é̢̡̀͝?̡́" She then quickly put her index finger on her chin as she scratched it, "A̸̛c҉t̷̡̕u̸̕a̧͠ll̴ý̨,̵ ̛%(̛́)̨# ҉̨t͞h̵at̸̷ ́͘͞d͏̸̵ò͘͝e̡̡ş̵n̵͜'̴́̕t͢ ̨m͏à͠t͘t̷ér͝,̷ ͟Y͞͠ò̸u̢͠r̡ ̛͏̛*$͏́)̧ C̨he̵͘a͏t̸̕͜é̛r̸͢,͝ ́͟ ̴͠$̴̵#̡̛͘ ̸̵$͞ ͜͜y̷̨͡ou͠͝?͜͠" She then tilts her head as she analysis Jack. "What are you talking about? Cheater? And what are you, you definitely aren't no normal npc?" Jack asked in confusion, "And what if I am this apparent cheater? What are you going to do about it?" The woman shrugged, "Éh̸? I gue͜ss ̢Į ͜wo̸n'͏t ҉d̨o muçh a͏b̴o͞ut i͞t,̸" the lady said as she raised her hand into her chin, "th̛͢o҉̶u̸g̢͢҉h͞ ͠if͟ ҉̛y̷o̢u̴ ͜do ̷̵ç̕h̶èa҉҉͠t҉͘ ̧́͢an͏d̵ ̵̕͡d͏͞o ͡͠͞t҉͞h̀͠á̶t̵ ̶b̷͠à̀͜d̵̨ ̷̨͡s̷̡t͝ú҉f́f҉ ͞yó̶u̡ ̨̨pl̸a҉n͞ ̕t̷̵o̸͡ ̨͝ḑo̢,҉ ̢͟y̕o͏̨u҉ ̛̕wį͡ll̶̕ ͏s͘͏̡u͡͝s͢҉҉pe͘n̵d́҉ é͘v͏er҉̨y̵̧ ̧͡͝sent͞i̕e̶n̢t̸̵́ ͢b̧ȩiǹ̛g͜ ͢͠͝h̷e̢͞ŕ̸e͏͘ ͠͞i̴̧҉n̡͢ ͝͡an͠ em͝p̢͞t́̀͡y͠͠ ͢v̸ǫi̸͘d̢͜͝,͟͡" the lady said as she looked at Jack with a creepy smile. "A͟l͏t̨͟͞hơ̷̶ų͏gh̶͡͞ ̛̛Ì̸͘'̵̸͠d͡ ͢s̢a̛͜ý̴͡ ͏Í̧'̡̢͢m̧ ̀͡m̨òr̨ę͜ ̧͝g̡̛l̶͢͠ad ̢t̵͢h́̕͡a̡͡t̛͘ ́͏͢y̕óu̷̸̢'̀͡r͝e̴ cḩ̷͜é̸a̡͝t̢ing," the lady says as she looks down at her hands, "I̸͟t͜͏'̨͢s̴͜ ̷̴pro̢͜b̢a͏̧͏b҉l̢͘y̸ ͢be̵͞ç̵a͟u͢͡ş̛͡è͟ ̢͝o̶̸f̡̢̀ ͡th̵̷a҉̨t̢ ̷́w̶͟h͞y ̀͏I̢̛ ҉ḩ̵a̡v͜͞e ͏̷a̕͡ b̵̕o͢d̷ỳ ͏n̨̧o͞͡҉w̧̕,͠" she said as she looked back at Jack with a crazed look, "I'̶m͘͟ ̧͟q́͡u̶͏i̡̡t̶̵̀è̛͠ ͝҉͜f̸̛l̸̡a͢҉t͝t͝ę̴r͜e̢͠d̸̡ c̶̵u҉͞t͡i̛͢e͘̕,͠ á̸͜r͡e̵̡ ͢͜͞y̴ǫu҉҉ ́͡t̢̧r̵y҉҉į͟n̵g ͝͠t҉͡o̶̵ ͏b̕̕r̨̨ing̴͘ ͝m҉e̸ ̵i͏nt̶ǫ͘ t̷̷͜hȩ̵ ̨͠ǵ̵͠a̧me҉?̶͘" she said with a slight giggle.

Jack scoffed as he looked at the woman, "look here woman, I don't know what you are, nor do I care what happens to this world, and the only thing I'm doing here is creating my wife's body to bring her back." The lady frowned, huffed and crossed her arms as she turned away from the man, "H̛́m̸̡͜p̷̵h̷̕͞,̷̴ ̷̧i҉̛͢t̷̨'̸̶s͜͞ n̴̷͢o͞t̶̛̛ l̴̀͟ik͝e̡͜͟ ̧̛I̢ ́͘ca̡͏r͡e̸̵d o͞r̶̡ ̕ą̨n̶y͝t͏̀hiņg̀͘,̵" she said trying to keep an angry tone, but she ended up giggling as she failed to keep the tone, Jack raised an eyebrow to this reaction as he clenched his teeth. "What the hell is wrong with you lady?" Jack said as his fist tightened, he really wanted to blast the lady, but his entire body screamed not to do so. The lady glanced at him with a curious look as she tilted her head slightly, "Á̢͏ ͡͝l̶͘ot̛̀ ̨o̢f̧̕ ̶͠t̨̨h͏̴i̕͠n̨͡͠gs̵͡?̴̢͘ ҉͝or͘͢ ͡m҉̢a̶̧͝ý҉̕b̷̨́e̡ n̡͜ơ̡t̡͝͝? ͡m͡a̴̢y̴̢͝b̶̨͠e̕ ̶͞ỳ̛o҉̶͠u'̛r̴͟͞ę͢͠ ͘͟͝t͝͏hȩ̡̛ w̡e̸͜͞i̴rd̸́ ͘o̡n͢e̢͠?̢̨ ̴̕͝or̸̀ ̸́m̕͝a͝͏y̧̛b̢͢e҉̸ ͘thé̶ ̵̛w͠o҉͡͝rld͢ i̡s͜͞ ̛͝w̨͠e̕ir͢͠d҉?" the lady continued as she tilted her head more and more to the side, "I ͢m͘è͘ą̕n̢̕ ̶҉͝y̶o̸̶͢u̷̵͡ ̴͞h̨͏a͟v͜e̷͘͝ ҉a̶̛ ̶͟͠r̵o͢͝c̵k̀͞ ̴̧͟i͏͘n ͢҉y̕͢ò̧̡ú̷r̸ ̴͝ç̕he̕҉ş̧t̛ ̨̨d̸o̷͘̕n̨̡'t ͘y̨̡͝o̶̡͜u̴?̛ ̡͟I ͘don͞'̵̡t̡,̢͜ t̸̢̛h͘͢o͘͡se͜͡͡ ̛͜t̵͘͡h́͢a̢̛t̕͜ ̨͢ma̛k͠͝é̕ ̕͢͜ý̵o͠҉u͜͞ ̨more͞ w̷é͞i̡͜r̷d͠? ̡͠o̷͘r̛ ҉̧m̧͡à͜y̕b̴̡͡e͟҉ ̶͝w͝e̵͏'̀r͟͜҉e͜͏̢ ̵̢̀b̕ò͠th͏ w͝e͢i҉͜rd̶̷̡?̕ ̸o̴̶͜r̕͡͝-̶" the lady was interrupted as a loud snapping sound was heard from her neck. She had tilted her head so far off that she had snapped it, her head now laid on its side, on her shoulder as she grew a slight surprised look. "Ẁ̷͝h̡ò̷̕o҉͏p̸̨s̵͜ s҉o̢r̷̡͟r̵̷͟ỳ͟,̴͡ ̨I͝҉ ͜t̛̕è̵͘n͝d̨̢͜ ́͟t͏̛o͜ ͞ḑ͝o̴̧̧ t̀͠h̷a̸̕t̡͏ ̶f̢r͏҉̕o͘͜m̴ ̕͜t͝͝i̕m̸e҉ ̡͠t̀҉̕o̶͞ ͡t͡i̷͞mé̀͏,͏ t͘̕i̶̷̛m҉̵͝e̵̵͡ ̵̢̛,̀͞ ̨͠t̶̡̕i̴m̶̀͠e͏,̶ ̵̨t̢i͞m̨͟ę-" her voice began looping as she continued to repeat the words, she tightened a fist and punched her head, she hit it from an angle so that her head snapped back into it's original position, "S͘͟͠o͞r͟ry̶,҉̧͝" she chimed, "t̴h͞aţ̴̕ ̴̕̕t̷̡͜e̛͟n̡ds͟ t̸̨o͏ ̧͜h͠a͠p̸̡͝p̵͠eń̢͞ ̡a̸l͘͡so͟ ̵͝fr̸o̷m̧҉ ̧͘t͘͝i̶̶ḿ͝e̸ ͜͡͞t̷͢o t̶͘͜i̶m̵e̴͡͡,̀҉ ̴͘͞t̢i҉̨m̸̢ę,̶ ͞t͡i͟me̵,̷́͘ ̷͏t͏i̡̛͘m͘͜e,҉ ̛͟t̸̡im҉e,͠" she begins to repeat herself again, so she tightens her hand into a fist and slams it down on the top of her head as if she were a Tv with a bad connection. She blinked a couple of times as she regained her… well got some composure.

Jack stared at the woman with an awed expression, he feels slightly disturbed, but he also has another feeling, pity? "S-Say, doesn't that hurt?" he asked slightly concerned. The lady puts her index finger onto her chin as she ponders the question, "Ḩ̕҉u͞͞rt͏͏?̧͜͟ ̵͟Ļi͘҉k̵e̶͞ ̨͝͡a ̴̢fe̕͟e͏l̨͠i̧͠n̡g? ̧̡͜I͝'͡m͏ ̷̧̀n̷̴̛ò͡t̸ s͡u̴҉͠r̢e̴̵̡,͏̧" she said as she shrugged, "I̴̧f ̷yóu'r̵e t̸a̵̛l̛k̕į̸ng̶ ̛͠a̧̛͡b̨̡o̷̕͞u̢͡t͢ ̴͜wh͘at̸̕ ̕j̵ús̕͏t̸̕ ̧h̨͝á̴̛p̕p̨ène͏̸͠d,̵ ̸͘t͢h͘҉aņ.͝.͟.̧͡ ̶̵̸y͝e̷ah̢͝?̸͟͟ ҉͘͜S̸҉o̸rry̷̡͜ ҉b̶͟͠ư̶͘t͜ ̡̕I ̸͘f͏ę̷el̵ ̷͘͟t͘h̨a҉t̨ ̨f̡͜e͡͏ęl͟i̷n̷͏ǵ ̧̨àt e͢v̛e͠͏r͠y̧ p͏̸a̧̛s̢͠s͏͘͠i̸̡ņ̕g͠ mo͞͡m̸̢͝ę̛͡n̛ţ,͞͞ ̕t̡ho͘u͡gh̶̴̸ ̨I͜҉ ̨̧g͏̛u̡è͠s̸͏s̸̀̕ ̵̡t͏͟͟he̢̨͢ f̸͏e͜҉̶e͝l̨̀i̵ng ͜w̵a̵͜s ̧͞m̵̀oŕ̵e̕͝ ̕͠s͝t͠r͘͜on̶͘g̛̕ w͞he̡͘n̶͞ ͠i̡͟t̢ ̡̡̕h̶̕̕a̧̕p̀p͟e̷n͞ȩd̸̶,҉̶͠" she said as she pondered the feeling. Jack's fist loosened as he felt a tear go down his eye again, before he could say anything his vision was being overflown by a red and purple hue as he saw red wires wrap around him, he felt his body being tugged away as he tried to fight back. "O̸̡h̶̕͜ ̧m̸y͢, ĺ̶ęa̛v̨͏͏ín̵͜g҉̛͠ a̸l҉̧̧reą҉͘d̢̧͜y҉̶̀?̡͟͝" the woman giggled, "Alri̧͠g̸͜h͘͝t ̧͞ c̢҉u̶̶͟t͟͞i͜ę͏,̀͡͞ ̛̀͢I'͜l̕l̛͝ ͜s̨ȩe͘ ̴̨̀y̴͏o̶̧ư͟ ̧̨͢ ar͞͞o͝͠uǹd̵,̀ ̵̨a̕n͟d̀͝ ́͘͏mak̷̕è̵ ͠s̨͘ú̕͡r̛͘e̵̡̧ ́͠y͡o̸u ̵̛d͢͝o̕͜ǹ̸'t̷ ̵f̡̛org̷̀e̛҉t̸́͝ ̧́m̷͢͝e̵͏ ҉ą̧ǵ͞á͢i̵̢͘n̡͢.́͟.̴͡.͏̢͟ ̷͡Eh͏?́̀ W̴͏h͟y͝͠͠ ͏́d̴̷í̶͡d̵ ̶̨̕I͢͢ ̵̧s͢a̕y ̶҉th̴a͢ţ?" the lady said as she pondered the question, ignoring the fact that Jack, who didn't hear her statement, was being pulled away from her reality.

Jack gasped as he woke up within Null Space, "What?" he said out loud while breathing heavily. 'Jack, sweetie, are you okay?' the voice said, causing Jack to turn angry. "YOU! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?! WHY'D YOU SHOCK ME?!" he shouted angrily. 'huh?!' the voice responded as if it weren't expecting the sudden outbreak, 'Jack I'm sorry, I have no idea what happened either, I just got angry, and it happened…' the voice said with a sad tone. Jack's angry expression changed to a slight frown as he sighed, "Fine, just don't do it again, I guess it is my fault… c'mon let's get to work on your body," Jack said as he secretly pondered on the meeting with the Woman.

 **Back at the field**

Nathan was still comforting the weeping Monika, no one but them and Sonic were on the field, though the hedgehog was waiting by the school building, waiting for the club members to return. Monika was able to regain some of her composure as she slowly pulled away from Nathan. "W-Why?" she asked silently as Nathan looked at her with confusion, "Why do you treat me so kindly? Like I've never done anything bad." Nathan gave her a serious look as she quietly cleaned her tears, "Because I don't want you to hurt anymore, Monika I care about you, the club cares about you, and I don't want to see you like this, but I understand that you feel discouraged with the situation, but I also don't want you to feel like you're at fault." Monika's tears stopped as she looked at him in the eyes, "You couldn't have ever predicted this, no one could've… Hey do you remember what you told me back during the last game?" Nathan asked to which Monika shook her head. "You told me that even if you don't feel confident, you should at least act it," Monika nodded as she recalled that moment, it was back when Shay had shared his first poem. "Well, I'll be honest, I'm not confident either Monika, I'm terrified, at the thought of Jack escaping into the real world, but I'm now even more terrified of you all being suspended in the empty void," he sighed softly as he said this but smiled. He stood up as he extended his hand out to her, "Monika, I want you to be by my side, I want you to fix my recklessness, and I also want to help you too, I want to show you that you do deserve these feelings of kindness, I appreciate everything you've done for me and you're friends, Monika, I look up to you a lot so please do continue to stay strong," he said with a genuine smile. Monika was no longer sad or frowning, but she wasn't smiling either, she wasn't sure how to react.

Nathan chuckled lightly as he moved his extended hand to Monika's cheek, "Hey c'mon, you're really going to have me say all that embarrassing stuff and not smile, it's not easy for me to open up like that you know?" he said as he lightly pinched her cheek and tried nudging her to form a smile. Monika giggled as she felt herself blush, "I'm sorry I'm sorry," she said in between laughs, "I just wasn't sure how to react that's all, I mean I've told you that I've lived all my life being criticized," she said as she averted her gaze lightly. She slowly put her index finger on her cheek as she rubbed it lightly, "Actually… truth be told Nathan… I look up to you too, you make me feel happy in a way no one else has, you're quick to react amidst the face of danger, and you care so much for our safety, I mean you were quick to go on board with the idea to save Natsuki, and you also were extremely worried for me when I passed out, you're very caring and nice," she said embarrassedly as she felt herself blush. She turned back to Nathan who wasn't sure how to react to Monika's speech, he simply stared at her with light blush. Monika smiled as she put her hand on his cheek and pinched, "H-Hey, c'mon you can't expect me to open up like that too only for you not to smile," she said while giggling, Nathan smiled as he pinched her cheeks too. "Hey you did the same thing too," he chuckled as he continued to tug at her. The two tugged at each other's faces as they giggled lightly as Sonic watched from the distance shaking his head with a grin.

"UWAH?! Look at you two, I knew something was going on between you two, we just go inside for some water and you two are acting all lovey dovey," Nathan and Monika blushed a bright red as they turned to the source of the voice, it was Natsuki who was standing by Shay. The two shared a grin as they had a teasing look on their face, Nathan and Monika let go of each other as they frantically stammered that nothing was going on, meanwhile Sayori was giggling at the two of them while Yuri was blushing lightly, "S-Sorry, we didn't mean to ruin the moment," Yuri said shyly. Monika and Nathan blushed brightly as they furiously denied any of the accusations put at them. After they settled the small ordeal Nathan had taught Monika how to use the hover wispon's ability to the fullest, completely on how to descend and how to ascend.

"Alright, is everyone ready to leave?" Nathan asked as everyone finished packing, everyone nodded as they stepped up to him. Everyone grabbed on to his shoulder as they were warped back to Monika's house.

 **That's it for now, I hope you enjoyed and stick around for the next chapter, which may come out a lot more later than the other chapters have now that school is starting up.**


	16. The Phantom User and The Crazy One

**Man, it's been a long time since I've updated this fic, hope you enjoy this chapter, also I have something to say for the end, so make sure you read it.**

Nathan and the gang had warped back to Monika's house by using Chaos Control, the group let go of Nathan as they proceeded to pack up. "Say where are we going to meet up for breakfast again?" Sayori asked as she rubbed her stomach. "Oh, there's this cafe I saw next to that burger place we went to yesterday, I was hoping we could go there," Monika chimed cheerfully. "Oh really? That's pretty cool, let's say we meet up there in an hour?" Shay asked to which everyone agreed. Monika had told Nathan that everyone was leaving to change and bathe, so they could go to the café. Natsuki took off with Sayori, since most of her clothes were still at her place, and Shay and Yuri left to their respected houses. "Say, what about Sonic? Will it be okay to take him with us?" Monika's eyes went wide at the question, "AH?! I forgot about him," she quickly pondered at the question, "I completely forgot that he can't be seen in public… and cafes normally don't tend to be a place you can sit down without being disturbed or noticed," she sighed lightly as she perked up. "I'll just have to make some food for him here, Nathan you can go ahead and shower first, I'll be preparing some breakfast for Sonic in the meantime," Nathan nodded as he walked up to the bag of clothes Shay had brought him the other day. After a while of searching through he picked out a black shirt with no collar and blue jeans, it was casual, but that's the kind of stuff he liked to wear anyway. He went to the restroom and locked the door behind him.

Monika scurried to the kitchen as she quickly prepared some eggs on toast for Sonic. As she cracked the eggs and dumped its contents on the frying pan Sonic slowly tugged on Monika's arm. She looked down at the hedgehog who had a smirk on his face, he pointed to the direction of where Nathan was, he then turned back to Monika and made a heart with his hand while giving her a questionable look. Monika blushed lightly at Sonic's question, "N-No, were just friends that's all, besides I doubt he sees me in such a way," she said as she turned back to the stove, "I'm not sure if you know this, but this game was a _Dating Sim_ and he decided to take the Natsuki route twice, so I doubt he sees me in any special way other than friends," she said softly as she stirred the eggs. Sonic grinned as he shook his head, he gave Monika a thumbs up as if saying good luck, she giggled lightly, "Thank you, but like I said we're just friends Sonic," she said as she placed some bread on the toaster. "Besides, I'm sure he probably has a girlfriend out there in the real world, I mean he's really kind, smart, dependable, and funny, I really wouldn't want to make him uncomfortable if he does," she said as she pulled the lever down on the toaster. Sonic rolled his eyes as he had a smirk on him, he went and patted Monika on the back as if encouraging her as he took a seat at the table. Monika couldn't help but smile at his jester, 'Thanks, but I promised I wouldn't let myself fall for him again…'

After a while Nathan had finished showering and had finished changing into the clothes he picked out. As he knelt down to fold his used clothes he felt something slip out of his worn pants pocket, "Hey isn't that?" Nathan said as he reached out for the rectangular object. "… it's my phone?" Nathan said as he picked it up, "Wait… if I had it in my pocket then…" his eyes widened as he recalled to yesterday when he had washed his pants, "Oh No… did… did I break my phone?" he said worriedly as he clicked the power button. Nathan sighed in relief as he saw the phone turn on, "Thank goodness," he said as he dumped his phone into the pocket of his new pants. He left the restroom with his worn clothes in hand, he saw that Monika was lying on the couch watching tv, "Showers all yours Monika," he said with a smile. "Okay, I'll be quick," she chimed with a smile as she went to her room, and left for the restroom with clothes in hand. Nathan glanced at the kitchen and saw Sonic eating at the table, he sat down on the couch as he pulled out his phone. He checked to see how much battery he had and found out that he was at 50%, "Huh… I wonder if there's any way to charge my phone in this world," he asked himself silently. He figured it was best to ask Monika later, and decided to patiently wait for her while messing with his phone.

 **Null Space:**

Jack silently tapped at the command prompt as the voice instructed him on the steps on how to create its body. They'd been working on the project since this morning, and they were slowly completing the body of Project Libitina. "We're almost done sweetie, soon we'll just need the _real_ human and the demon to complete your body," Jack said as he tapped away. "You know, I don't see why we have to make this body so powerful, it honestly feels like we're over doing it. I mean I'm pretty sure I can take on the whole world with my power alone," Jack bragged as he crossed his arms. 'Yes sweetie, I know you are quite capable, but we do have to make sure that our plan has a 100% rate of success,' the voice said while Jack rolled his eyes while typing away.

After a few more minutes of programming Jack yawned lazily, 'I believe that's the most you can do for now Jack,' the voice said while he perked up at it. "Really?" he asked with doubt, 'Well for you that is, I need you to focus your energy on the palm of your hand Jack, I will send my spirit into the game's coding to create some necessary files for my body though I feel like this may take a while,' the voice said while Jack nodded and raised his hand, pointing it at the command prompt. Jack began powering up an energy blast in his hand, he saw a bright red light travel from his chest, where the Ruby was, to his hand once he saw this the voice spoke, telling him to shoot the blast to the command prompt. Jack did so, and the command prompt absorbed the blast. Jack stood there for a couple of minutes waiting, and realized that he truly was alone, "Huh, seems like she really did leave into the game's coding," Jack said as he saw the command prompt saying 0% out of a 100. He turned to the empty room of Null Space and sighed as he lied down on the floor, he yawned loudly as he was mentally exhausted from the long programming marathon he had. He stared off into the ceiling of Null Space as he slowly felt drowsy and went to sleep.

Jack grumbled in his sleep as he felt a bright white light in front of him. He slowly opened his eyes as he heard a familiar voice speak, "W͘a̵k̡͟ey ̵̷͘Wa̕ke̛y È̸͜g̵g͏̕s ͡a̧͏̡n̨d̸̴̀ ̛B͘͡͞a̴̧ke̴̶y!̴" he found himself within the white void again, and the crazed woman was looking down at him with her wrists on her hips as she eyed him with a smile. "Y͏o͜͡u'͘r͡e ̡͡q̷͢uit̡͟e̕ ̸̸̛t̴̢h̀e̶̕͘ ̨cu̵̡t̵͝i̵̢͝e̶͏ ̶͏͘wh̨̛͡ę͘n͠͞ ̢y҉o͜u̧͢͞'̢r͏̧e ͏͏̧s̀͠l̨̨͢ȩepí͢n͞g̴͞͠," she said with a creepy smile. Jack rolled his eyes at the crazy woman who put her hand up to her mouth while giggling, "Why did you bring me here? If you're trying to change my mind from doing what I'm going to do then get lost freak, you won't stop me!" Jack shouted to which the lady seemed to have been surprised by, "Eh͜ ̛N-No͟,̡ I͠ ͘told̨ ͢y҉ơu҉ I͘ ̡d͡on'͢t c̸a͜r͜e ͜w͟hat́ ̛happ̨e͢ns̴ ͝t͠o̡ thìs͝ ͞ga͞mé,̶ it͢s̢ ̶t̶h̛e ͠s͘ame̡ for ͢me eit͜h҉er̕ ̶w̴a͡y̸...̛ ͜Ì j͠us͘t.͜.. ҉w͘án͞ted̷ t̕o҉ ̶t͟ąlk to̸ s̛om͟eo̵ne..͝." she said as she gloomily hung her head down. Jack scoffed, "That's obviously not it, what do you want?" he asked rather coldly, the lady gave her wicked grin as she vanished. Jack widened his eyes in surprise at the sudden movement, his eyes, still wide glanced towards his left as the woman was now close to his ear.

He heard a creepy giggle as the lady spoke up, "W̧̡͢e̶ll̵,̵̡ i̸͜͡t̡͞͞ ̵͜s̡͡e̸̸͜em̴s̷͏͠ ̴̢͠y̴̨o̧̡u̴҉҉ ̧͘͟kn͟o͏͠w͡ ̀m̨͡e̸ ͠q͟͝u̵͘i͘tȩ́ ̕͞w͜el̢ĺ̕ a̸f͠te͟͏r҉̛ où̷r ͏͏f̀͘i̕͠r͟͠st̀͢ ̵m̵̛͘e͠e̡͡͠ţi͟n̸g͟͡,͡ ͜I'̴̨l̛l̡͠ ̶̨b͘̕e̷̴ bl̶̡͝ư̷n̷͟t̀͏," she said as Jack slowly turned to face her. "I̛'̡ve ͝b҉e͠e͏n͢ wat̨c͡hi̧ng ̶y͘o͘u f̶or̡ ̧a̶ ̸whil̵e͏ ̧no͠w̶,̡ ͘e̡veŗ ҉s̸in͞c̛e͢ ̀y̸ou ̧p̶i̡cke̛d ̶u͡p ͞tha͜t҉ r͘o͡ck͏ t͠ha͘t͜ ͢i͡s̴,͝ ̀ỳou̷ séem͏ to̢ t͠álk͡ t̸ó ͠y͟ou͜r̢s̀e̡l̷f ̕qu͟i͘t̶è a ͞l͟ot, do̵n͏'̴ţ ̢y̸ou? C͜oul͡d͏ ̀it be tha̴t͞ it's̶ ̧b̸ecau̡se y̧ou̡'rę ͟c͡r͞a̵zy̢? O͘r is ̢t̛h͞e͟re ͠a͞ ̵l̛itt́l͝e ̶som̴eon̶e ͜t͠u̴c͏k̷ed͡ ̴a̢way͝ ̛within ̴th̛a͏t r̸oc̢k̶ o̷f̵ y̷o̢u͢rs͡," she said eerily as she pointed at the Phantom Ruby in Jack's chest. Jack was startled completely, even though he detected no actual power that could pose a threat coming from the lady, he still felt deeply disturbed by her sudden movement and question. Jack clenched his teeth as he coldly replied, "Yeah, it's my wife, she speaks to me through the Ruby," Jack said as he felt his body quiver underneath her gaze. The lady's intimidating demeanor shrunk as she raised an eyebrow with a confused look, "W͜ow,͏ ̧tha̧t̷'̛s̷ ͡prétt͠y ̷wei͢r̨d̡," she casually says while looking at him, she looks at Jack who still is in awe, "What'͞s ͡wrong? ́A̸w̴w dįd I ̢s͏ca͡ré you?" she asked in a cute demeanor.

"W-What? No, I didn't get scared," Jack said getting flustered as he turned away while blushing lightly. He turned away from the woman in order to keep her from seeing his blushed face, but as he turned his gaze away the woman warped again and was now standing a foot away from him staring at his face. She looked at him with a sly smile and placed her index finger on Jack's left cheek, "Aww̴, l̵ook͘ at҉ ̴y͞óù,͏ y̡o̕u͡'̨ŕe ͢bl͝ųsh͜i͢n̶g,́ ̢that́ ̷me̕ans̕ y͏o͘u͝ ͟di̸d ǵet sc̛are," she said with a giggle, she then grew mischievous smile as she added, "or ćould it be ͏t̷h͞at̴ ́y̛o̕u͘ ̶like me?͠" she said in a flirtatious manner. Jack's eyes widened lightly as he clenched his teeth, he quickly averted his gaze while crossing his arms, "Tsk, please you think I'd fall for a freak like you?" he scoffed confidently. The lady grew a smile as she decided to mess with him, "Eh͠?̧ ͢M͟e à ͢f̛re͠ak?͢ ͝Sa͜ýs͜ ̧the̢ o͞ne w͏ho ͞t҉alk҉s t͝o ̢r̢oc̸ks ̢and w͘e͜ars ͜the̢m ̡on h̡ìs ches̛t?҉" she replies with a giggle. Jack turns back and shouts with a defensive tone, "It's not a rock, it's called the Phantom Ruby! And I'm not crazy, my wife really does talk to me through the Ruby!" he says as he grows an embarrassed tone. The lady giggles at his response, "M͝àn͜ ̸I l҉ov̴e̵ tąlki͡ng̡ ̸with́ ́ỳo̡u, you͞'rę ̴a̛ ̶l̛o̡t̕ mo̧re͠ ̛be̴t̨ter ͘th̴a̛n t́h̨at͡ gįrl͘ ̸wi̶th t̸hȩ ̕w̨hite̡ ̧ríbb̴o͡n̵," she says with a warm smile while Jack raises an eyebrow to the statement. "What, the girl that used to have access to the game files?" he asks in curiosity to which the lady nods, "yu̕h͠u,̛ I'm̴ ̢not́ go҉n͏na ̸l̷ie̶,͏ ̵I ̶t͡h͜i͟nk̡ sh̕e ҉do̸esn't r͟eál̷ly ̸l̛i̴k͏e̕ ͝mȩ thąt͝ muc͡h,̕ I m҉e͢a͞n̡ ͞she was ju͠st s͝c͞ar͠èd ͘an ̴di͜dn'͟t҉ r͠eally ̶a͘ckn͟òwledg̶e a͞ný of t͡he͞ qu͟estio͜n̕s I͘ ̶ha͠d f̷or h͢e͟r̕," she says as she remembers her meeting with the club president, to which Jack scoffs, "With a look like that who wouldn't be scared," to which the lady gasps and crosses her arms and pouts as she refocuses her attention back to Jack.

"W̴hi̸ch͏ ͘re̡m͢in͠d͜s̶ ̷m̷e͜,̶ ̵I͝ h͡a̶v̢e͜ a ̡f̸ew q̡ue̷s͟t̛i̴ons ab͟òut́ ýou a̵nd ̴t͢ha̢t͘ ͝r͜òc̢-" she's quickly interjected by Jack who asserts, "Ruby!" she smiles as she giggles and playfully hits the top of her head softly while sticking her tongue out. "A̵nyw͜ay,̢ ͜Į hav̷e̕ ͟a ͡f͡ew͟ ̧qu͢e̸s͢ti҉o͜nś ͝abo͘ut y͞o͘u̷ and t͢h̴at ͡RŲB͘Ý!" she makes sure to say that last part loudly for Jacks approval. "I thought you didn't care what happened to this world, so why are you interested now?" he says questioning the lady. "I'̴́m̶͠ ņo̕͝͝t͟," she says, a creepy grin then curls up on her face, "I̷'̶m a҉s͏k̴i͢ng̨ f̧o͠r yơu̧r s͡ake̸." Jack raises an eyebrow, "What do you mean for my sake?" she then begins to giggle maniacally for a while. "Welĺ, a̡nswęr̀ ͘me ̷thįs m̵işt̢èr r͟u̧b͞y ͠pe̶r͏so̶n͟, ho̧w cąn ͜t͠h͏a̶t ͜R̡U͜BY ̷h̕ơl̛d t̶hę ͝sòu͡l ̶o͟f y̴o͠ur͜ ̀wi͏fe̛ ̨if͟ i̵t ͘ca̶me ͢fr͝om͢ a҉ ̀d͞i͘ff́e͘r͝enţ ̕g͞a͏me̛?͞" she asked to which Jack confidently scoffed, "Easy, she told me that when the Ruby entered the game the broken code of her character was merged into the gemstone by sheer will," he replied confidently with his arms crossed. The lady nodded as she listened to this, "O̷k͟ay̕, O͢kay̢, if̸ thìs s͟o̕-c͢a̧lled voic͢e͝ i̵s͘ yo͞u̕r̸ ͢wife,͏ ͟then ͠h̨ow ͠c̕o͘me̸ wḩen͏ it҉ ͜first ͝i͟n̢tro͢du͘ce͜d ̀h͠er͜s͡el̶f҉ y͜o͝u̶ d̀idņ'͞t̨ r͠ec҉o͘gnize̕ ͡he̸r̶?͞" she asked with a smirk. "Eh? well… I…" Jack wasn't to sure how to respond to this question, when he first found the Ruby he fell into a dream and saw the voice, but he really didn't recognize her, "I don't know… how do you know this?" he asked confused. The lady giggled "I ̴can ̷s͡ee ͜ev́er͏y͞t͠h͘i̕ng͟ f̀ro͏m ̴thi͝s̡ ̷w͢hi͟te void,͘ an͞d͝ I҉'̡ve ͘be̡e̡n wa͏tc͡h̶in̵g b̸oth́ yo̴u an̢d̛ th̴os̴e͟ ̀g͝roup̷ o͠f t͜e͜e̵ns w͜i̵t͘h tḩe r͜e̡a̶l huḿa̶n ̢y͘o̴u'v͘e̵ ̷b̨ee͘n ͢trying ͠to c͡a̢pt̢u͘re," she said with a giggle. "T͡hey̕ ̧ac̢ţualļy̷ ͏f̶ou̡nd a f̢i̴le͡ ͟contai̸ǹiǹg ͝y̛oųr̷ ͡ba͢ckst͞ory th͠a҉t́ w͠as ̀cr̕e̕ate̡d ͜by ̕t̸h͠e̵ P̴han͢t͝om͟ ̡R͞uby͞,̡ and͟ ͢I ̀overhe̸a͏rd ͏t̢h͏e͘ ̛part̨ whe̢r͝e yo̕u͘ cou͜ldn't ̛d̡isti̸n̨gu͏i̸sh wh̵o̢ ͞thé ͝RUB̷Y̡ ̨p͏er̕son͘ ҉ẃa̸s̨ at͠ ̵a̶ll," she explained as Jack still couldn't come up for an answer to her previous question.

"A̵c͞tua͡l͏l̸y̷,͞ ͘i̵f̛ I re͞m͝e͢mber ͞c͡o͝rr͏e͠ct̴ly͝,̶ ̶y̴ou ͟d҉id͢n'͝t ̷r͏ec͠og̢n͘iz̨e̡ ͡t́h҉e͞ ͏Ruby̧ ̵p͜erson̕ ̷u̶nt̛il̸ i̕t ́sho̴ck̶èd̀ ̡y͢o̴u͞,͝ ̨ k͢ind̶ of ̀l̶i͘ke ͜i̛t d͢i͝d҉ so today d̶idn't҉ ̧i̡t?̀" she asked to which Jack's eyes widened, "W-Wait, I don't remember being shocked by the Ruby upon our first meeting," he said in confusion as he lost his composure. The lady was interested by his statement, "Yo͢u ͞doń'̡t? Int͡erest̶in͡g…̧" she said as she rubbed her chin with her right hand, "W-What? What are you getting at?" Jack asked frantically. The lady gave another creepy grin, she began laughing uncontrollably as she came to a conclusion, this only served to make Jack feel more uneasy with his situation. The lady then went quiet as she looked down at the floor averting her gaze from him. She slowly lifted her lowered head, as her eyes came into Jack's view he lightly gasped mentally. The lady's eyes and mouth were now replaced by black pixels, "Th͡at̡ ̛RUB̧Y ͢ha͢s͞ go̷t̀ y̵ou all̨ wrapped ͜a̢roun҉d̛ ͢its͢ ̢f́i̛ng̨e̕r," she said in an eerie tone while giggling. Jack clenched his teeth as a glare grew on his face, "No! You're lying she really is my wife!" he shouted, the lady went quiet as she stared deeply at Jack with her black pixel eyes. She began giggling to herself uncontrollably, "T͏he͜ń ̛tell̛ ̷m͜e, ̷w͝hat́'s͠ ͟y͠o͟ur ẃif̷e'̢s̕ ̕name͢?" she spoke through the black pixels. Jack managed to regain his smile as he scoffed lightly, "Easy, like I could ever forget the love of my life's name, her name is…" his eyes vegan to widen as he was at a loss for words. "H-Her name is… her-" he was interjected by the lady who spoke again, "Y̸͜O͏Ù ̷̧DO̡N̕͞'̶͘T ́R͡E̵̴M̧̀͝E͟͏M̸̛͡B̛E̢͘͞R͘!͢͡" she began to giggle uncontrollably as her body began to twitch, upon doing so the sounds of her giggles were merged with the sounds of pain and agony that Monika would hear in the void, while she also chanted, YOU DON'T REMEMBER at Jack repeatedly.

Jack clenched his teeth tightly as he clutched his ears in order to block the sounds coming from the lady, "Yǫ́u̵̵̧ ̕͢d̕o̡͞ņ͢'̴̷t̷̷ ̸͢r̵̡e̛m̵̡͘e̢m̶b͝è͞r͜,̧̕ ͝th͡at̴͘ ̷́́R͞͠U҉BY̡̨ įs̷͘͡ m̡̧̕e͡s̡si͞n̴͠g̵͟҉ ̧͠wi̴̷͞th̡ ̶͡҉y͟͡ó͠u͘r͡ ̶̡͞m̸e̛͝m̧͝o̶̡r͠ie͝s͢,̸̛͜ ̷͢ì̕t̶̀͘'͢s ̴͟u͢͝sín҉͞g̢̛͞ ̧̨yo̴ú̢,̡̀ ̨͜i̴t͠͏̶'͡s̵͢ g̷͝ot̕ ҉̶̕y̶o̵u̧ ̧̨̛w̧r̵̛a͝͠p͟͜p̢͢e̛d̸̡͢ ͜͡a͠l̕l ̵̴a͢͡r͟͜o̵ųn͠d̴̕͡ ͟i͞҉t̡̕͞s ͢fi̵͜n̴͝҉g̀͘er͜͝," she chanted freely in a disturbing voice. Jack shook his head in denial, "No you're lying, you're lying, YOU'RE LYING!" he shouted, he raised his head and clenched his fist tightly. "SHUT UP!" was the last thing he shouted when he punched the lady on her left cheek, sending her down to the grown and landing with her face looking away.

Jack panted as he looked down at the fallen lady, she slowly raised her head as she sat up still looking away from Jack. Really quiet sniffs were heard coming from the lady as her head lightly shook. She turned her head lightly to Jack whose eyes widened at the sight of the woman, her eyes were back to normal and were watery, along with her lips quivering trying to stop herself from crying. Jack's expression grew to one of worriedness as it dawned upon him what he just did. The lady finally spoke in a raspy voice, "W̧-͞W̢hy͠?̶ ͏Why ͘di̵d y͘ou̢ h-̧h̢it me…̡ ͘no͘ ̨th̕a̕t͘'s ̛a̡ stu̸pi̢d̢ ques͝tio͝n͏… I ͜des̷er̷ved įt," she said as tears started flowing down her cheeks. She turned her head away from Jack as she silently sobbed to herself. "I'̷m̵ ͏sórr͞y͠… Í ͏r͡e͘al҉l̛y͢ ̕am͏,͝ ̀I̶ ̕díd̕n'́t͢ ͘ac͞t ļike̢ t͡hàt̛ on̛ ̵pur͟p͞os̸e,̸ ͢I̡'m a b̧r͜oke̸n m̴e͞s͡s…́ ͠you̸ ̨kn͝ow ͜t̡h͘a̕t̴ by ͡no̕w, so̢m̧etim҉e͘s͞ Í d̵o͘ ͡stu͠f̶f͠ ͠I re͢al̴ly͞ d͞o͡n'́t m͝eąn to̕ d̀o̢… ͞I'͝m bro͠k͝en." She lied down quietly as she curled up into a ball as she sobbed to herself, "I de̵se҉rve it,͘ ͢f͞òr s͢t͏i̸ck̀ing̀ ̛my n̨o͏se͝ w̴here ͞it dòesn'͘t bel͘o͏n̢g," she said quietly as her voice echoed throughout the white void. "I ͡d̛idn̴'t̴ ͡mean ̸t̡o get y҉ou ͟a̢n͟gr̨y̷, i̸t'͡s͝ ҉ju̶s̢t͞…̕ ̀whe͟ǹ ̨y͘o͠u ̨w̵or͜ŗi͝ed ͘ab̛o҉ut me͞ ͡dur͟in̛g o̷úr̛ la͞s͘t̛ ̛ta̴l̵k…͢ i͡t m͏ęa̡n҉t̨ ̡a̷ l͜o͞t̢ ̕t͠o ͞me… ̨s͘o ̴I w͞as oǹly doi̧n̕ģ th̀e şa͞ḿe t͞ó y̶ou, ̛I̵ wa͝s̡ w҉or̀rìe͟d ąbou҉t ̡yoú ̸and̵ ţha̛t͘ Ruby…̷" she said in between sniffs.

Jack felt really guilty for what he did, he wanted to comfort her but wasn't sure how to, he hadn't had any social activity ever since his mother in law died. His thoughts were interrupted as the lady spoke up again, "Y̴o҉ù c̛a̕n ĺe͏ave if ̡y̕ou̷ want̕… ̢I won͠'t͘ bo̡t̷ḩeŗ yòu͜ eve͠r agąiǹ… Į'l͝l͏ ju̵st ͝s̡t̕a̶y ͠he̵r̢e, ab̀a̸n̛do̴n̢e͘d̨ ͝b̸y̢ ̷t̀he͢ w̵órl̢d ̛I ͢g͏ųés҉s͢ ͘it̸'͟s̢ ̕what͟ I ̀de͢s͢erve͟," she said quietly as she slowly rocked herself in her curled-up possession. Jack opened his mouth in awe and wanted to say something, 'She reminds me a lot of me… when I lost my wife, pushed away by the world,' he silently sighed as he walked up to the lady. He kneeled to her level as he patted her head lightly she looked up to him with a questionable look. "I'm… sorry for hitting you… I had no right to do so, so I hope you can forgive me," he says quietly looking down at her. She looks back up at him with watery eyes with a confused look, "I… ̷I fo͜r̸g͏i͡v͞e yóu͟," she says as she tries to smile, but flinches in pain as she puts her hand on her left cheek. "Ah, here let me see," Jack says as the lady sits up with her legs crossed. He slowly runs his fingers over the fresh bruise on her cheek, the lady winces in pain at the light touch. Jack begins to slowly apply his entire hand on her cheek, making her get slightly embarrassed and glance away with a light blush. She closed her eyes as the pain from the bruise stung again, she felt Jack's hand get warmer overtime. After a minute or two the pain resided, and Jack removed his hand from her cheek, she opened her eyes as she began rubbing her warm left cheek, the bruise had completely disappeared to her surprise. "Y̡-Yòu ҉he͏aļed̴ ͏me? ̡B̀ut̡ ̧why?" she asked as she cleaned off her remained tear. Jack cracked a small smile, a completely unfamiliar feeling he hasn't felt in a long time crept over him as he smiled at the lady, "Think of it as a thank you, for helping me open my eyes to the truth," he said as he stood up and put out a hand to pick her up. She took the hand as he lifted her up, "Say, if it's okay with you, I would like to come back here again later today, I've got time away from the voice right now, I'd say I have at least till 4:30ish pm, well I'll come back if it's okay with you," he tells her to which the lady nods, "Y͟eah,̢ ́yo̡u'̶re ͏w͟e̸lcome̛ ҉to ͟co͢me ͝he̴re ̷a͏ny̶t̨im͠e̴, ̷just͏ g̵o̧ ҉intơ ą ͞dee̡p̢ m͠e͝dita̷t́i͢o͡n̷,̶ a̷nd I͡'ll̀ briǹg ̸you͝ her̨e͡," she said with a smile. Jack nodded as he began to walk away, "Okay then, I'll see you later," he said, the lady called out to him, "Sày̧, ͘wh̛a̴t̛ ̢ár̀e͘ ̢you҉ going̵ ̸to͘ do̢ ̧n͘o̧w̶? ̨Y̕ou͠ ̶k͢now, s̶i͞nçe ̧yo͟u͏ ̕kn̡o̢w͜ ̛the ͟vo̷ice ̡is ̕l̸y͘i̴n̢g t̴o̢ ̧y̷o͘u" she asked Jack who stopped walking. He turned to her as he gave a smirk, "I'll play along with its plan for now, I'll try to come up with a plan to stop him I guess, to be honest I'm not too sure what I'll do," he said as he continued to walk. The lady smiled as she waved at him, "G͞óod̀ ̸l̶uck͜ t̶h̀en,͢ ̀u̵hm̴…͜ ̛oh̢ ͞m͡a̡n҉ I͘ fo͞rg̡ot ̧y͢oưr̷ nam͘e,͢ ͝I͡ ͘s̷h̛ou̴l͘d ḱnow͞ th̕i͠s͟, th̡a͘t ̧w̴h҉it̶é r͢i̧b͠bo͏n̶ g͡irl t̶old m̸e̷ ͜y͡ou͜r ́nam̴e," she said as she began pondering the conversation she had with her. "It's Jack, and you?" Jack said turning at her, "Ȩh͜?̢! ̕W͘e̶l͟l͢ to b̢e͠ h͜o͘nest͞ ̀Į d̴o͝ņ'͠t ̸re͜al͜ly̷ d̛on'ţ ͝know…" she said sheepishly. Jack smiled at her expression, "Then I'll make one up for you," he said as he paused and pondered for a name, "How about Minori," the lady perked up as she smiled, "I̴ ̡l̸ik̨e͜ ̨t̛ha͡t ̨ņa̴me̕," she said calmly, Jack chuckled lightly, "If I remember correctly it was the name of one of my wife's favorite manga characters from some manga called Parfait Girls? I'm not sure, she used to read it all the time I'm pretty sure." The lady gave a curious look as she heard this, "Eh?͞ ҉P͟a͢rf̸a̧it G̨irls? ͡S͠ounds ͢ l͠i̷k̵e ͠a̕ ͢n̕i̶ce sto͜r͏ý," she said as she raised her hand to her chin, 't͜hat͢ ͡sóu͢nds f҉am̵i̕l͢ia̢r͠.' Jack turned back as he continued walking away, "Well I'll see you later then Minori," Minori smiled as she waved back, "S̴e͞e ̀yo̷u ͠ļatèr ͡Jac̨k҉!̨" she shouted with a large smile.

 **And that's it, I thought I'd make a more Jack centric chapter this time around. Anyway, onto what I want to say, I QUIT- I'm kidding I'm kidding, anyway the real news. I want to hold a small contest. I never was good at summaries, so if anyone is willing to do so, offer a summary for this fic that I can use, because I honestly feel that the current summary just doesn't do the fic justice. Since updating this fic will take a longer time than usual, (Probs like a week or so) I'll end the contest when the next chapter is up.**

 **RULE**

 **Summaries can only be 385 characters long, I want to credit the writer of the summary, so make sure to leave enough room to write your username.**


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